By By Adam Prestridge
If you like bluegrass music, love good food and enjoy fellowship, the Atmore Rotary Club has the event for you.
The 26th annual Old Time Fiddlers Convention will be held on Saturday, July 16 beginning at 2 p.m.
And if it's the heat you're worried about, don't fret, it's held indoors in the Escambia County High School auditorium.
Preparations for the big event began several weeks ago.
"Planning is going good, it's right on track," convention organizer Keith Castleberry said. "We're getting calls from all over the surrounding states and Alabama. We should have a good crowd, but you never know because you don't know how many fiddlers or people will show up. If we have a day like we did last year, we'll be pleased. It will be even better if it doesn't rain."
Admission into the Fiddler's Convention is $6 per person. All proceeds raised will go towards the Rotary academic scholarships awarded each spring.
"Originally it was done to give money to the Atmore Rotary Village, a retirement home, and it became self sufficient, so we looked for another project, and we started the Academic Rotary All-Stars," Castleberry said. "We use the proceeds from the Fiddler's Convention to fund the scholarships for the all-stars."
According to Rotary treasurer Wanda Hall, a total of $16,600 was raised from ad sales and during the Fiddler's Convention last year, excluding expenses from the convention, the scholarships awarded to the high school students and the banquet held to honor them.
Castleberry has high hopes for this year's convention, as long as Mother Nature is on their side.
"I've actually had a lot of people calling asking questions about it," Castleberry said. "We've got a good friend in Pensacola with the Greater Gulf Coast Bluegrass Association and she (Donna Bates) puts it in their newsletter, which goes all over the southeast. That helps us a lot."