Paramount Ranch hosts pickers and pluckers

FINE FIDDLIN'-Some good country sounds will set feet a-tappin' at the 46th annual Topanga Banjo Fiddle Contest & Folk Festival this Sun., May 21 at Paramount Ranch in Agoura. For information, call (818) 382-4819 or visit www.topangabanjofiddle.org. Traditional and contemporary bluegrass, old time and folk music will be featured at the 46th annual Topanga Banjo Fiddle Contest & Folk Festival from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sun., May 21 at Paramount Ranch in Agoura.

New acoustic/bluegrass group Richard Greene & Brothers Barton, old time string band The Mercury Dimes and bluegrass band The Brombies will entertain.

International dancers will perform in costume. Fiddlers, singers, banjo players, mandolin pickers and guitarists of all ages will compete for prizes and gifts. Jamming musicians will perform on Paramount Ranch's Western movie sets. For children there will be crafts, songs and storytelling.

Four outdoor stages will be erected at the site, which is part of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. Paramount Ranch is noted for its Western town sets in a picturesque mountain location off Cornell Road, about a quarter-mile before its junction with Mulholland Highway.

Professional bands will perform on the contest stage.

On the dance stage, visitors may watch or join English country, Irish set, Scottish country, family dancing, clogging, contra and square dancing.

The railroad stage will feature Susie Glaze with the folk songs of Jean Ritchie, Fred and Zac Sokolow's tribute to Woody Guthrie, Paul and Loren Barton's new acoustic mandolin and guitar performance, and Ross Altman singing his own compositions.

At the covered pavilion stage will be beginning and intermediate fiddle playoffs plus children's music by Bill Dempsey, cowboy songs and poetry from Mike Mahaney, Kelly McCune and Border Radio performing songs inspired by the Golden State, and Evie Ladin of the Stairwell Sisters performing "Roots of Old-Timey Dancing."

Expanded children's activities this year include folk music for families, fiddle tunes of the Southwest, playing the "xaphoon" and musical saw, and children's crafts in the park's eucalyptus grove.

Visitors may also find folk arts booths featuring weaving, ceramics, woodcarving, inlaying, leather craft, metal work, jewelry, needlework, painting, glass and more.

National Park Service environmental booths will provide exhibits and information about activities in national, state and local parks.

Beginning, intermediate and advanced musicians are encouraged to bring instruments and participate in informal jam sessions. Food and drinks are available but picnickers are also welcome.

Admission ranges from $7 to $12. Children under 10 are admitted free.

For more information including contest entry applications, vendor booths and volunteering call (818) 382-4819, or visit www. topangabanjofiddle.org.

The event is sponsored by Topanga Banjo Fiddle Contest & Folk Festival, Inc. in cooperation with the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, a unit of the National Park Service.