The Granite Quarry Civitan Club will host the 58th annual Granite Quarry Fiddlers Convention on Oct. 12 at East Rowan High School.

Bands and individuals from all over the region will gather to compete for $2,400 in cash prizes, trophies and rosettes to be awarded to the best bands, fiddler, banjo picker, guitarist, mandolin player, bass player, Dobro and vocal. The event will include competition in two band categories, bluegrass and bluegrass gospel, as well as individual youth and adult instrument competitions. The youth competition will also include entries for both bluegrass and bluegrass gospel band categories.

The Ralph Pennington Memorial Master Fiddler Award will be presented to the first place fiddler in the adult competition. Pennington, originally from North Wilkesboro was a luthier of finely crafted string instruments. Although he played all the instruments, he was widely known for playing the fiddle and mandolin and won many awards on both. Pennington was the 1977 Civitan Fiddlers Convention honoree.

The Don and Margaret Livengood Memorial Award will be presented to the most outstanding youth performer as selected by the panel of judges. The award was created by their daughter Patti Beaver and her late husband, Walter, in memory of her late parents. The late Don Livengood, the late James Mathis, and the late Junior Bost chaired the first Civitan Fiddlers Convention in 1966. While teaching elementary school in Union Grove, Mathis worked with the world champion Union Grove Old Time Fiddlers Convention. Upon becoming principal of Granite Quarry Elementary School, Mathis joined the Civitan Club and introduced the idea of a fiddlers convention as a fundraiser.

The convention typically draws several hundred people of all ages and backgrounds. With several regional music instructors concentrating their attention on passing on traditional and Appalachian music, an increasing number of young people are embracing the tradition of this event and others like it. 

Registration will open at 4 p.m. for all categories. Youth competition begins at 4:30 p.m. All adult entries must be registered by 6 pm. to be eligible to draw a number for performance time in a lottery style drawing. Youth winners will be announced at 7 p.m. just before adult competition begins.

The fiddlers convention is a major fundraiser for the Civitan Club with proceeds benefiting local and regional charities including Special Olympics, Victory Junction Gang Camp, senior citizens groups, Boys and Girls Home at Lake Waccamaw, Nazareth Child and Family Connection, and Civitan Research Centers at Duke University and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. 

The club makes annual donations to Granite Quarry Elementary School, Erwin Middle School and East Rowan High School. The Civitan Scholars Banquet at East Rowan High is one of a kind throughout Rowan-Salisbury Schools. It honors the top 10 scholars in grades 10-12 and their parents. A Granite Quarry Civitan Scholarship is awarded each year at the banquet. The club also sponsors the citizenship trophy at each year’s graduation ceremony. In addition, the Granite Quarry Civitans sponsor two Junior Civitas Clubs, one at East Rowan and another at Rowan Early College. 

The Civitan Club will serve ½ BBQ chicken plates, hamburgers, hotdogs and desserts in the school cafeteria from 11 a.m. until sold out. Guests can eat in or carry out the food.

Admission to the convention is $12. Children under 12 are free with a paid adult. The event is held on the second Saturday in October each year at East Rowan High School located at 175 St. Luke’s Church Road, Salisbury, NC 28144. Granite Quarry Civitan Club President is Bill Feather and Fiddlers Convention Chairman is Norman Ribelin. Vivian Hopkins, former president of the North Carolina Bluegrass Association, is the convention coordinator. For more information, call 704-633-2995 or 704-267-9439. The registration rules and more details can be found on the event Facebook page at: 2024 Granite Quarry Civitan Fiddlers Convention.

2024 Granite Quarry Civitan Fiddlers Convention honoree

Each year since 1970 the Club has honored individuals who have made a substantial contribution to the promotion and preservation of traditional old time and bluegrass music. This year’s honoree is Mr. ‘Buddy Michaels’ of Burlington. He will be honored in a special presentation at 6 p.m. during this year’s Granite Quarry Civitan Fiddler’s Convention. Michaels will be joined on stage by a band of long-time bluegrass friends in a half hour performance honoring him following the presentation.

Gary ‘Buddy Michaels’ Branchau — Celebrating 50 years in broadcasting

Michaels is no stranger to the world of bluegrass music. A veteran radio broadcaster, Michaels knows music like the back of his hand. He has grown in popularity through the years and has become a household name to followers of bluegrass music. He is known and considered a friend in the world of bluegrass by many artists, producers, record labels and promotors in the industry. He is in demand as the emcee of choice at regional bluegrass music festivals and can currently can be heard on the world-wide web doing his weekly “Hometown Festival” and is syndicated on numerous radio stations. 

Michaels, one of the most popular bluegrass DJs in the Southeast, can be heard on WLHC-FM Life 103.1 Saturday mornings from 7-9 a.m. with his radio show, “Hometown Festival.” The show is broadcast from the station’s studios in Sanford and transmitter site in Moore County.

Michaels was born in Suffolk, Virginia, just across the state line from Gates County. He blends his folksy style with lots of music and some colorful bluegrass culture. Michaels’ grandfather’s fiddle playing and his daddy’s “buck dancing” were the beginning of his bluegrass career.

“Around 7 or 8 years old, I remembered seeing Flatt & Scruggs on TV. I’ve been hooked on bluegrass ever since,” said Michaels.

Michaels’ radio DJ debut was in 1973. He played a variety of formats, including country, Gospel, rock and roll, and finally, a bluegrass show in 1978 on Burlington’s WPCM-FM. He has also appeared on WBAG in Burlington, WKRX in Roxboro, and now WLHC Life 103.1 in Sanford. Throughout his career, Michaels has promoted bluegrass, mostly by playing records, doing radio interviews and emceeing local festivals. He has appeared at the Bass Mountain Festival for 27-years, Merlefest, Willow Oak Creek, Preddyfest in Franklinton and Bluegrass Festival in Bear Creek. Michaels was recently nominated for Bluegrass DJ of The Year for the upcoming Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music Awards.

Michaels loves the bluegrass scene, and has developed close relationships with artists and producers throughout his career.

“It’s more than just a job,” Michaels said. “It’s the friendships that I really value.”

You can hear Buddy Michaels’ “Hometown Festival” Radio Show on 1150 AM – 105.9 FM WBAG Burlington and on Life 103.1 WLHC-FM. His “Hometown Festival” also airs Monday Evenings 6:30-10 p.m., on 96.7 WKRX and streaming on www.radioroxboro.com.