By By Sherry Digmon
Advance Staff Writer
They picked and grinned Saturday night as string players turned out to compete in the Rotary Club's Fiddlers' Convention.
But there was much more than fiddlin' in Escambia County High School's Hodnette Auditorium. Players came bearing mandolins, guitars, banjos and bass fiddles to compete for prize money and braggin' rights.
Rotarian Fred Salter Jr. chaired this year's convention.
The crowd was off a little, possibly because of the heat, he said. He estimated attendance at about 500.
Even some of the players stayed home.
Salter reported that food sales went well.
He thanked the school for the use of the facility.
Results are listed below:
Vocal Band
First place – Highway 99, Walnut Hill; Second place – Cold Water Creek, Milton; Third place – Low Country Grass Band, Mobile.
String Band
First place – Highway 63 Blue Grass Boys, Moss Point, Miss.; Second place – Frontier Bluegrass, Grove Hill;third place – Highway 99, Walnut Hill.
Guitar
First place – Winky Hicks, Grove Hill; Second place – Maurice Smith, Pensacola; Third place – Ken Carr, Pensacola.
Banjo
First place – Winky Hicks, Grove Hill; Second place – Dwight Lincoln, Milton;third place – John Holston.
Bass Fiddle
First place – Highway 63 Bluegrass Boys, Moss Point; Second place – Larry Tucker, Wilmer; Third place – Kimberly Hardin, Molino.
Mandolin
First place – Danny Lindsey, Silas; Second place – Scott Slay, Walnut Hill; Third place – Deanna Rowell, Milton.
Fiddlers
First place – Will Fink, Gainesville; Second place – Roy Crawford, Cullman; Third place – Danny Knowles, Moss Point.