Playing For Civil War Days in Cadiz, KY - Saturday, March 20th

Barely a week before this event, I (Stephanie) got a call from "a friend of a friend" to please contact Gary Polete of the Cadiz Merchant's Association as they were in dire need of live music for their Civil War ball being held the Saturday night of their three day Civil War re-enactment festival and had not been successful in locating a group. So I did - and after directing Gary to our website, he said we would be "perfect".... Well, I wasn't entirely certain of that - after all we are a Celtic band, not a Civil War era band AND we had never played for folks dancing, but I decided it sounded like a new adventure. To add to the situation, most of the band was going to be unavailable that day to participate because of prior committments. So - this became a job for me (hammered dulcimer), David M (guitar) and Byron (fiddle). One week later, and several "new" tunes learned (Dixie WAS a requirement!) as well as research from the web and Dixie (who has played for Civil War dances), we were ready....

David M and I went to the festival earlier in the day to play background music for the festival goers at the Cadiz park where the event was held. David was the photographer so he never shows up in the pictures - but he was there... he has the bruised guitar fingertips of non-stop playing all day to prove it!



At 2:00 pm, the main road in Cadiz, KY was blocked and the battle was on. Luckily, we were far enough from the big cannons being fired that we were not deafened.



Always, the children are the most fun to interact with. And they are never afraid to try out the dulcimer if given even half the chance. The two littlest ones are brother and sister, the older girl is their cousin. They all got a chance to play and had a blast doing it!



By 5: 00 pm, Byron was able to get away from his day's committment and join us for a little playing outside before moving to the ball location. By this time, I was definitely about played out and the dulcimer was woefully out of tune - sunlight and wind are both not great for large wooden instruments covered in strings! But, noone had complained about the tuning and folks still seemed to enjoy it.

By 6:00, we moved to the Cadiz, KY VFW - and I TUNED.... Then it was time to start playing for the Civil War Ball at 7:00. David's presence is seen - if only by his empty chair as he takes the picture while Byron and I are tuning.

And, what a great crowd - and lots of pretty Civil War era ball gowns complete with hoop skirts. I'm not sure I could play music in one of those dresses! Linda Fritz was the dance caller and she was gracious in her help to us on tune types and tempos for each of the dances. She even wants us to play for another Civil War ball coming up soon in the area....!

Dances included the Grand Marche, the Virginia Reel (which goes on a very, very long time.... one gets quite familiar with the tune when it's repeated 30 times....!), the Waltz, the Broom Dance, and the Patty-cake Polka. My favorite was the broom dance - couples dance until the music stops and then everyone grabs another partner - the odd person out dances with a broom. It was great fun to have the power to stop anytime, anywhere and see folks scurry!

Our thanks to the folks in Cadiz, Ky for welcoming us and letting us have so much fun with them - even if David's fingers are still sore. And the Merchant's Association folks purchased quite a few of our CDs to sell in their shops downtown - so thanks for that also!