Popular folk festival returns to Agoura

SYLVIE BELMOND/Acorn Newspapers PICKERS AND GRINNERS- Banjo players and guitar players join in song at the annual Topanga Banjo-Fiddle Contest and Festival Festival last weekend at Paramount Ranch outside Agoura Hills. The country, folk and bluegrass festival began in 1961. This year, performances were judged in 20 separate categories. The triple-digit temperatures didn't deter traditional music aficionados as they gathered at Paramount Ranch south of Agoura Hills to socialize and enjoy acoustic melodies last Sunday.

The daylong Topanga BanjoFiddle Contest and Folk Festival, founded in 1961, attracts hundreds of musicians each year.

"The festival is one of the best of its kind because there are so many bluegrass and Americana music supporters in this area," said Brian Campbell, member of the Simon Pure bluegrass band that won first place in a competition at the festival in 2006.

This year Campbell and his wife, Laurie, along with band members Tom Robison and Bob Dolan of Thousand Oaks, Jarrett Lesko of Burbank and Ron Miller of Simi Valley were invited to entertain the audience on the festival's main stage.

"Paramount Ranch is an ideal location for the one-day festival. The organizers do a terrific job of putting on an event with something for everyone," said Campbell, who is a pastor at Gateway Church in Agoura Hills.

Ashley Broder, a Camarillo resident and graduate of the High School at Moorpark College, performed regularly in fiddle contests, ultimately winning the Western Open Picking Championship in 2003 and 2004.

She went on to collaborate with worldrenowned mandolinist Mike Marshal on his method books, taught at the Mandolin Symposium in California, and played in a number of area bands while studying classical violin and cello in college.

Now Broder and her partner Jamie Laval tour the U.S. and Scotland to perform blended Celtic-bluegrass music. The duo performed on two stages at the festival Sunday.

While contestants and featured musicians performed on one of three stages, visitors brought their own instruments to partake in improvised jam sessions that materialized on the ranch throughout the day.

Visitors also were invited to participate in arts and craft activities and join in folk dancing lessons offered throughout the day.