In the latest edition (June, 2012) of
The Island Fiddler, there's an article in memory of Bishop Faber MacDonald, a founder of the PEI Fiddlers Society, in which the author, Margaret Ross MacKinnon, recalls that:
Father Faber strongly emphasized the
necessity to end the damage and hard feelings
caused by fiddle contests by banning fiddle
competitions on P.E.I. and avoiding the jealousy and
disunity that competitions create. In our vocations as
an Ordained Priest and a Registered Nurse
respectively, Father Faber and I knew that it was
critical for our new group to develop trust, respect,
cohesiveness, comradeship, esprit-de-corps and
have fun in order to share our individual God-given
talents and let go of the competitive ways of the past.
Somewhere years ago, I read a similar remark about fiddle contests in Cape Breton - but have come across no such reference since. Does anyone out there know anything about early fiddle contests in Cape Breton, and when and why they came to an end (assuming they did)?