November 4, 1967

The first Tennessee Valley Old Time Fiddlers Convention was held at Athens State University in Limestone County. Officially founded in 1966, the convention traces its roots to local fiddling contests in the county that date back to the mid-1920s. Today, the convention is held on the first Friday and Saturday of October and draws an annual crowd of more than 15,000. The event features acres of arts and crafts booths, instrument traders, food vendors and a variety of musical competitions, such as banjo, fiddle, old-time singing and buck-dancing contests. The convention is consistently named by tourism groups as one of the top 20 attractions in the Southeast.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

The Tennessee Valley Old Time Fiddlers Convention is held annually each October on the campus of Athens State University in northwestern Alabama (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Rick Mould, photograph by Joyce Cauthen)

Categories for the convention include mandolin, bluegrass and old-time banjo, Dobro, dulcimer, old-time singing, beginning fiddler, finger-picking and flat-picking guitar, junior, senior and classic old-time fiddler, bluegrass, old-time band and buck dancing. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Rick Mould, photograph by Joyce Cauthen)

Fiddlers of all skill levels abound at the Tennessee Valley Old Time Fiddlers Convention. The instrument was known in popular folklore as the “devil’s box.” (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Rick Mould)

The Tennessee Valley Old Time Fiddlers Convention is open to performers young and old. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, courtesy of Rick Mould)

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