We had a great time at Shakori Hills Hoppin’ John fiddling festival. Ellie won third place in the open bass competition and Fiona won first place in the youth musicianship competition. We got to do a lot of picking and jamming!

We had a great time at the Old Fiddler’s Convention in Galax, VA! We jammed during the day. . . and late into the night.

We joined forces with our friends Olivia and Sophia Fernandez, their cousin Christian Fernandez, and Sylvia McGee to make a larger band. Rex McGee coached us. We finished third place overall in the youth band competition!

Kudos to Fiona for getting 4th Place in the Youth Mandolin Competition playing Galway Hornpipe. She was accompanied by Rex McGee, her mandolin teacher.

We had great experiences at the Mark O’ Connor strings camp in Boston and the Alasdair Fraser/ Natalie Haas fiddle camp on the Isle of Skye, Scotland!

Here are some photos from our time there:

Here is Jessie jamming with Mark O’ Connor at Bunker Hill, Boston:

Here we are with world-renowned Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser…

…and cellist Natalie Haas:

We had a great time playing music with friends at the ceilidh in Tarskavaig:

The sunset was beautiful over Tarskavaig that night:

We had a great time at the camps, met three of our heroes (Mark O’ Connor, Alasdair Fraser, and Natalie Haas), and learned many new songs!