HARPERS FERRY – Dozens of local musicians flocked to Harpers Ferry over the weekend for the town’s first World Fiddle Day Celebration, with workshops, performances and jam sessions taking place across town.

World Fiddle Day has been a tradition in Ireland since about 2012, celebrating traditional Irish music played on the fiddle. This year, local musician Kate MacLeod decided to bring the celebration to the Eastern Panhandle and add in some American influences to the weekend’s music.

“I thought, wow, we should have a little bit of a room for our music, our traditional music here, in the spirit of the same thing that they do there,” MacLeod said. “I decided to fashion this in the in the same way they do in Ireland on the same weekend, but American twist.”

MacLeod even contacted the organizers of World Fiddle Day in Ireland for their blessing. She says they were excited to hear about Harpers Ferry’s event, sending wishes of good luck.

In addition to the traditional Irish or Celtic music, musicians that were part of the event focused on some old-time American songs, as well as Bluegrass music. One workshop in particular, led by Dave Van Deventer, focused on that style of music, teaching around a dozen local musicians how to play a popular bluegrass tune.

Two bars in Harpers Ferry, The Barn and the Light Horse Inn, hosted ‘jam sessions’ where any musician who wanted to could bring their fiddle and join in on the music. One group inside The Barn played the traditional Irish/Celtic Music, while the group in the Light Horse played American.

The day culminated in a concert, held at Camp Hill-Wesley United Methodist Church, put on by many of the day’s participants, including MacLeod. Funds raised in ticket sales went towards the Harper's Ferry-Bolivar Historic Foundation in order to aid in the repairs to rehabilitate First Zion Baptist Church into a community center.

For MacLeod, this year’s event was a pilot, looking to see if people were interested in it looking at hosting it again next year. She says she’s hoping to continue the event next year, turning it into an annual event and eventually incorporating other varieties of music into the fold.

“Harpers Ferry is such a wonderful town and the history of it makes an event like this it sort of belongs in a town like this,” MacLeod said.