Join us every Labour Day Weekend, as Riverside Park becomes Fiddle Park, and thousands flock to Pembroke to enjoy traditional fiddle music and step dancing. Get our your dancing shoes and rosin up your bow! It's family fun at its best.
Our Cultural Heritage
The FIddles of Pembroke And The Valley
The Pembroke area boasts many, many musicians who are either masters or disciples of the fiddle. Their melodies draw on the various ethnic styles of the Ottawa Valley. French tunefulness, Celtic dissonance, German rhythms and playfulness. Sudden stops, syncopations and improvisations are all propelled by a powerful and unmeasured bow style.
The hub of the Ottawa Valley is one of Canada's great fiddling regions where the fiddle still holds tremendous place of importance. Here, loggers worked all winter in the logging camps until just a few years ago and electricity only came through some areas as late as the 1970's. Pioneers from Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany and Poland came with their axes, saws and fiddles and cleared the way towards a unique style of playing that combines characteristics of them all.
Local Valley fiddlers from yesterday to today have been steeped in this culturally rich environment! Be sure to plan a trip to the Annual Old Time Fiddling and Step Dancing competition - held every Labour Day weekend!
For More Information, Click Here
Pembroke & Area Fiddling Association, Inc.
P.O. Box 1329
Deep River, ON K0J 1P0
Telephone: (613) 584-3962, Or (613) 635-7200
