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["Every year on the Saturday before Ash Wednesday, the town of Helvetia in Randolph County, West Virginia, hosts its Fasnacht celebration, a pre-Lenten mountain Mardi Gras intended both to reinforce Swiss customs for locals and bring much-needed tourist dollars to the town in the sparse mid-winter months.Though the holiday was originally celebrated only by locals in the towns private homes, in the late 1960s, town matriarch Eleanor Mailloux restored the holiday as a public celebration. Today, Fasnacht attracts attendees from near and far. The event begins with an open music jam at the Helvetia Star Band Hall or a special sampler plate dinner from the Hutte Restaurant. Then everyone gathers in the Star Band Hall in their homemade papier-mache masks for a masked lampion parade to the Community Hall. At the second hall, there is a mask contest for kids, a square dance called by local callers and accompanied by the Helvetia Star Band, and a treat table of traditional doughnuts and Swiss rosettes and hozablatz made by Diane Betler, Eleanor Betler, and other local bakers. All of this takes place under an effigy of Old Man Winter, hanging over the dance floor. At midnight the Old Man is cut from the rafters and burned on the bonfire outside, as the crowd sings a rousing a capella rendition of Country Roads. Learn more in Emily Hilliard's Bitter Southerner piece on Helvetia's seasonal celebrations, including Fasnacht: https://bittersoutherner.com/my-year-in-helvetia-west-virginiaAnd her piece on Fasnachts foodways traditions on NPRs The Salt: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/02/17/386970143/swiss-village-west-virginia-mardi-gras-feast-fasnacht Also see the Helvetia Foodways Oral History Project conducted by the West Virginia Folklife Program in partnership with the Southern Foodways Alliance: https://www.southernfoodways.org/oral-history/helvetia-west-virginia/"]%

37. Young fiddler plays in the jam at the Helvetia Star Band Hall, 2 of 2

Identifier:
4224.HelvetiaFasnacht.Photo.011.2.6.16
Title:
Young fiddler plays in the jam at the Helvetia Star Band Hall, 2 of 2
Date:
2016-02-06
Creator:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Carnival, Helvetia (W. Va.), Folk music--West Virginia, Fiddle tunes, Old-time music, Winter festivals, Fiddling
Location:
Helvetia (W. Va.)
["Every year on the Saturday before Ash Wednesday, the town of Helvetia in Randolph County, West Virginia, hosts its Fasnacht celebration, a pre-Lenten mountain Mardi Gras intended both to reinforce Swiss customs for locals and bring much-needed tourist dollars to the town in the sparse mid-winter months.Though the holiday was originally celebrated only by locals in the towns private homes, in the late 1960s, town matriarch Eleanor Mailloux restored the holiday as a public celebration. Today, Fasnacht attracts attendees from near and far. The event begins with an open music jam at the Helvetia Star Band Hall or a special sampler plate dinner from the Hutte Restaurant. Then everyone gathers in the Star Band Hall in their homemade papier-mache masks for a masked lampion parade to the Community Hall. At the second hall, there is a mask contest for kids, a square dance called by local callers and accompanied by the Helvetia Star Band, and a treat table of traditional doughnuts and Swiss rosettes and hozablatz made by Diane Betler, Eleanor Betler, and other local bakers. All of this takes place under an effigy of Old Man Winter, hanging over the dance floor. At midnight the Old Man is cut from the rafters and burned on the bonfire outside, as the crowd sings a rousing a capella rendition of Country Roads. Learn more in Emily Hilliard's Bitter Southerner piece on Helvetia's seasonal celebrations, including Fasnacht: https://bittersoutherner.com/my-year-in-helvetia-west-virginiaAnd her piece on Fasnachts foodways traditions on NPRs The Salt: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/02/17/386970143/swiss-village-west-virginia-mardi-gras-feast-fasnacht Also see the Helvetia Foodways Oral History Project conducted by the West Virginia Folklife Program in partnership with the Southern Foodways Alliance: https://www.southernfoodways.org/oral-history/helvetia-west-virginia/"]%

38. Fiddler Jesse Milnes plays in the music jam at the Helvetia Star Band Hall

Identifier:
4224.HelvetiaFasnacht.Photo.012.2.6.16
Title:
Fiddler Jesse Milnes plays in the music jam at the Helvetia Star Band Hall
Date:
2016-02-06
Creator:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Old-time music, Festivals, Tourism and the arts, Fiddle tunes, Carnival, Fiddling, Winter festivals, Helvetia (W. Va.), Folk music--West Virginia
Location:
Randolph County (W. Va.), Helvetia (W. Va.)
["Every year on the Saturday before Ash Wednesday, the town of Helvetia in Randolph County, West Virginia, hosts its Fasnacht celebration, a pre-Lenten mountain Mardi Gras intended both to reinforce Swiss customs for locals and bring much-needed tourist dollars to the town in the sparse mid-winter months.Though the holiday was originally celebrated only by locals in the towns private homes, in the late 1960s, town matriarch Eleanor Mailloux restored the holiday as a public celebration. Today, Fasnacht attracts attendees from near and far. The event begins with an open music jam at the Helvetia Star Band Hall or a special sampler plate dinner from the Hutte Restaurant. Then everyone gathers in the Star Band Hall in their homemade papier-mache masks for a masked lampion parade to the Community Hall. At the second hall, there is a mask contest for kids, a square dance called by local callers and accompanied by the Helvetia Star Band, and a treat table of traditional doughnuts and Swiss rosettes and hozablatz made by Diane Betler, Eleanor Betler, and other local bakers. All of this takes place under an effigy of Old Man Winter, hanging over the dance floor. At midnight the Old Man is cut from the rafters and burned on the bonfire outside, as the crowd sings a rousing a capella rendition of Country Roads. Learn more in Emily Hilliard's Bitter Southerner piece on Helvetia's seasonal celebrations, including Fasnacht: https://bittersoutherner.com/my-year-in-helvetia-west-virginiaAnd her piece on Fasnachts foodways traditions on NPRs The Salt: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/02/17/386970143/swiss-village-west-virginia-mardi-gras-feast-fasnacht Also see the Helvetia Foodways Oral History Project conducted by the West Virginia Folklife Program in partnership with the Southern Foodways Alliance: https://www.southernfoodways.org/oral-history/helvetia-west-virginia/"]%

39. Square dance under the effigy of Old Man Winter in the Helvetia Community Hall

Identifier:
4224.HelvetiaFasnacht.Photo.017.2.6.16
Title:
Square dance under the effigy of Old Man Winter in the Helvetia Community Hall
Date:
2016-02-06
Creator:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Tourism and the arts, Carnival, Helvetia (W. Va.), Folk music--West Virginia, Winter festivals, Square dance music--United States
Location:
Helvetia (W. Va.)
["Every year on the Saturday before Ash Wednesday, the town of Helvetia in Randolph County, West Virginia, hosts its Fasnacht celebration, a pre-Lenten mountain Mardi Gras intended both to reinforce Swiss customs for locals and bring much-needed tourist dollars to the town in the sparse mid-winter months.Though the holiday was originally celebrated only by locals in the towns private homes, in the late 1960s, town matriarch Eleanor Mailloux restored the holiday as a public celebration. Today, Fasnacht attracts attendees from near and far. The event begins with an open music jam at the Helvetia Star Band Hall or a special sampler plate dinner from the Hutte Restaurant. Then everyone gathers in the Star Band Hall in their homemade papier-mache masks for a masked lampion parade to the Community Hall. At the second hall, there is a mask contest for kids, a square dance called by local callers and accompanied by the Helvetia Star Band, and a treat table of traditional doughnuts and Swiss rosettes and hozablatz made by Diane Betler, Eleanor Betler, and other local bakers. All of this takes place under an effigy of Old Man Winter, hanging over the dance floor. At midnight the Old Man is cut from the rafters and burned on the bonfire outside, as the crowd sings a rousing a capella rendition of Country Roads. Learn more in Emily Hilliard's Bitter Southerner piece on Helvetia's seasonal celebrations, including Fasnacht: https://bittersoutherner.com/my-year-in-helvetia-west-virginiaAnd her piece on Fasnachts foodways traditions on NPRs The Salt: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/02/17/386970143/swiss-village-west-virginia-mardi-gras-feast-fasnacht Also see the Helvetia Foodways Oral History Project conducted by the West Virginia Folklife Program in partnership with the Southern Foodways Alliance: https://www.southernfoodways.org/oral-history/helvetia-west-virginia/"]%

40. Sam Petsonk and Stephanie Tyree waltz at the Helvetia Fasnacht Square Dance

Identifier:
4224.HelvetiaFasnacht.Photo.018.2.6.16
Title:
Sam Petsonk and Stephanie Tyree waltz at the Helvetia Fasnacht Square Dance
Date:
2016-02-06
Creator:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Tourism and the arts, Winter festivals, Fiddle tunes, Square dance music--United States, Folk music--West Virginia, Helvetia (W. Va.), Fiddling, Carnival
Location:
Helvetia (W. Va.)
["Sam & Joe HerrmannJoe Herrmann (b.1949) and Sam Herrmann (b. 1949), both Maryland natives, are traditional musicians who play together as part of Critton Hollow String Band. They have been a couple since the mid-1970s when they moved to Hampshire County, West Virginia. Joe is a fiddle and banjo player, and Sam is a guitar and hammer dulcimer player. Sam is also a knitter, hand yarn spinner, and owns the knitting kit company Samspun. They live on a piece of land in Paw Paw, WV where they keep sheep."]%

41. Joe and Sam Herrmann play music on their back porch

Identifier:
4224.HerrmannJoeHerrmannSam.Photo.001.7.19.16
Title:
Joe and Sam Herrmann play music on their back porch
Date:
2016-07-19
Creator:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Fiddling, Banjo, Critton Hollow Stringband, Folk music--West Virginia, Fiddle tunes, Old-time music
Location:
Hampshire County (W. Va.)
["Sam & Joe HerrmannJoe Herrmann (b.1949) and Sam Herrmann (b. 1949), both Maryland natives, are traditional musicians who play together as part of Critton Hollow String Band. They have been a couple since the mid-1970s when they moved to Hampshire County, West Virginia. Joe is a fiddle and banjo player, and Sam is a guitar and hammer dulcimer player. Sam is also a knitter, hand yarn spinner, and owns the knitting kit company Samspun. They live on a piece of land in Paw Paw, WV where they keep sheep."]%

42. Joe and Sam Herrmann play banjo and fiddle on their back porch outside of Paw Paw, West Virginia

Identifier:
4224.HerrmannJoeHerrmannSam.Photo.002.7.19.16
Title:
Joe and Sam Herrmann play banjo and fiddle on their back porch outside of Paw Paw, West Virginia
Date:
2016-07-19
Creator:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Folk music--West Virginia, Critton Hollow Stringband, Fiddling, Banjo, Old-time music, Fiddle tunes
Location:
Hampshire County (W. Va.)
["Joe Herrmann (b.1949) and Sam Herrmann (b. 1949), both Maryland natives, are traditional musicians who play together as part of Critton Hollow String Band. They have been a couple since the mid-1970s when they moved to Hampshire County, West Virginia. Joe is a fiddle and banjo player, and Sam is a guitar and hammer dulcimer player. Sam is also a knitter, hand yarn spinner, and owns the knitting kit company Samspun. They live on a piece of land in Paw Paw, WV where they keep sheep."]%

43. Old-time musicians Joe and Sam Herrmann of Hampshire County, West Virginia

Identifier:
4224.HerrmannJoeHerrmannSam.Photo.003.7.19.16
Title:
Old-time musicians Joe and Sam Herrmann of Hampshire County, West Virginia
Date:
2016-07-19
Creator:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Critton Hollow Stringband, Fiddling, Banjo, Old-time music, Folk music--West Virginia, Fiddle tunes
Location:
Hampshire County (W. Va.)
["Joe Herrman (master artist, b. 1949) of Paw Paw in Hampshire County and Dakota Karper (apprentice, b. 1992) of Capon Bridge are participants in the 2020-2021 West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program, studying old-time fiddle. Herrmann is a founding member of the Critton Hollow String Band and has taught old-time fiddle to many private students and at the Augusta Heritage Center. Dakota Karper, a Hampshire County native, has been playing old-time fiddle for 20 years and runs The Cat and the Fiddle Music School. Herrmann and Karper apprenticed together previously in 2004 (when Karper was 11) through Augusta Heritage Centers former Apprenticeship Program.See the West Virginia Folklife Program feature on Herrmann and Karper: https://wvfolklife.org/2020/12/03/2020-folklife-apprenticeship-feature-joe-herrmann-dakota-karper-old-time-fiddle/"]%

44. 2020 Folklife Apprenticeship pair in old-time fiddle, Dakota Karper and Joe Herrmann play on Herrmann's porch, 1 of 4

Identifier:
4224.HerrmannJoeKarperDakota.Photo.001.10.12.20
Title:
2020 Folklife Apprenticeship pair in old-time fiddle, Dakota Karper and Joe Herrmann play on Herrmann's porch, 1 of 4
Date:
2020-10-12
Creator:
Elmaleh, Lisa
Subject:
Fiddling, Folk music--West Virginia, Fiddle tunes, Old-time music, Apprenticeship programs
Location:
Hampshire County (W. Va.)
["Joe Herrman (master artist, b. 1949) of Paw Paw in Hampshire County and Dakota Karper (apprentice, b. 1992) of Capon Bridge are participants in the 2020-2021 West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program, studying old-time fiddle. Herrmann is a founding member of the Critton Hollow String Band and has taught old-time fiddle to many private students and at the Augusta Heritage Center. Dakota Karper, a Hampshire County native, has been playing old-time fiddle for 20 years and runs The Cat and the Fiddle Music School. Herrmann and Karper apprenticed together previously in 2004 (when Karper was 11) through Augusta Heritage Centers former Apprenticeship Program.See the West Virginia Folklife Program feature on Herrmann and Karper: https://wvfolklife.org/2020/12/03/2020-folklife-apprenticeship-feature-joe-herrmann-dakota-karper-old-time-fiddle/"]%

45. 2020 Folklife Apprenticeship pair in old-time fiddle, Dakota Karper and Joe Herrmann play on Herrmann's porch, 2 of 4

Identifier:
4224.HerrmannJoeKarperDakota.Photo.002.10.12.20
Title:
2020 Folklife Apprenticeship pair in old-time fiddle, Dakota Karper and Joe Herrmann play on Herrmann's porch, 2 of 4
Date:
2020-10-12
Creator:
Elmaleh, Lisa
Subject:
Old-time music, Fiddle tunes, Fiddling, Apprenticeship programs, Folk music--West Virginia
Location:
Hampshire County (W. Va.)
["Joe Herrman (master artist, b. 1949) of Paw Paw in Hampshire County and Dakota Karper (apprentice, b. 1992) of Capon Bridge are participants in the 2020-2021 West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program, studying old-time fiddle. Herrmann is a founding member of the Critton Hollow String Band and has taught old-time fiddle to many private students and at the Augusta Heritage Center. Dakota Karper, a Hampshire County native, has been playing old-time fiddle for 20 years and runs The Cat and the Fiddle Music School. Herrmann and Karper apprenticed together previously in 2004 (when Karper was 11) through Augusta Heritage Centers former Apprenticeship Program.See the West Virginia Folklife Program feature on Herrmann and Karper: https://wvfolklife.org/2020/12/03/2020-folklife-apprenticeship-feature-joe-herrmann-dakota-karper-old-time-fiddle/"]%

46. 2020 Folklife Apprenticeship pair in old-time fiddle, Dakota Karper and Joe Herrmann play on Herrmann's porch, 3 of 4

Identifier:
4224.HerrmannJoeKarperDakota.Photo.003.10.12.20
Title:
2020 Folklife Apprenticeship pair in old-time fiddle, Dakota Karper and Joe Herrmann play on Herrmann's porch, 3 of 4
Date:
2020-10-12
Creator:
Elmaleh, Lisa
Subject:
Folk music--West Virginia, Apprenticeship programs, Fiddling, Old-time music, Fiddle tunes
Location:
Hampshire County (W. Va.)
["Joe Herrman (master artist, b. 1949) of Paw Paw in Hampshire County and Dakota Karper (apprentice, b. 1992) of Capon Bridge are participants in the 2020-2021 West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program, studying old-time fiddle. Herrmann is a founding member of the Critton Hollow String Band and has taught old-time fiddle to many private students and at the Augusta Heritage Center. Dakota Karper, a Hampshire County native, has been playing old-time fiddle for 20 years and runs The Cat and the Fiddle Music School. Herrmann and Karper apprenticed together previously in 2004 (when Karper was 11) through Augusta Heritage Centers former Apprenticeship Program.See the West Virginia Folklife Program feature on Herrmann and Karper: https://wvfolklife.org/2020/12/03/2020-folklife-apprenticeship-feature-joe-herrmann-dakota-karper-old-time-fiddle/"]%

47. 2020 Folklife Apprenticeship pair in old-time fiddle, Dakota Karper and Joe Herrmann play on Herrmann's porch, 4 of 4

Identifier:
4224.HerrmannJoeKarperDakota.Photo.004.10.12.20
Title:
2020 Folklife Apprenticeship pair in old-time fiddle, Dakota Karper and Joe Herrmann play on Herrmann's porch, 4 of 4
Date:
2020-10-12
Creator:
Elmaleh, Lisa
Subject:
Folk music--West Virginia, Old-time music, Apprenticeship programs, Fiddling, Fiddle tunes
Location:
Hampshire County (W. Va.)
["Joe Herrman (master artist, b. 1949) of Paw Paw in Hampshire County and Dakota Karper (apprentice, b. 1992) of Capon Bridge are participants in the 2020-2021 West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program, studying old-time fiddle. Herrmann is a founding member of the Critton Hollow String Band and has taught old-time fiddle to many private students and at the Augusta Heritage Center. Dakota Karper, a Hampshire County native, has been playing old-time fiddle for 20 years and runs The Cat and the Fiddle Music School. Herrmann and Karper apprenticed together previously in 2004 (when Karper was 11) through Augusta Heritage Centers former Apprenticeship Program.See the West Virginia Folklife Program feature on Herrmann and Karper: https://wvfolklife.org/2020/12/03/2020-folklife-apprenticeship-feature-joe-herrmann-dakota-karper-old-time-fiddle/"]%

48. Portrait of 2020 West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship participants in old-time fiddle, Joe Herrmann and Dakota Karper, 1 of 2

Identifier:
4224.HerrmannJoeKarperDakota.Photo.005.10.12.20
Title:
Portrait of 2020 West Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship participants in old-time fiddle, Joe Herrmann and Dakota Karper, 1 of 2
Date:
2020-10-12
Creator:
Elmaleh, Lisa
Subject:
Old-time music, Fiddle tunes, Fiddling, Folk music--West Virginia, Apprenticeship programs
Location:
Hampshire County (W. Va.)