WEISER, Idaho — The small town of Weiser becomes the epicenter of fiddle and folk music every year for a week in June, as thousands of people descend on the town for the National Oldtime Fiddlers Contest and Festival.
The festival, which got underway Monday and runs through Saturday - brings in competitors and participants from all over the world.
“Last year we had 47 states and seven countries represented on our pin board," said Gary Eller, the director of the banjo contest.
Eller lives south of Nampa and has been coming to the festival for the past 15 years, ever since he moved to Idaho from New Mexico.
“You come and see friends you haven’t seen for a year and there you are - you pick and play music until you drop at night,” he said. “You have this one thing in common and can escape from politics and the crazy news of the day."
Sandra Cooper, the executive director for the festival, told KTVB the event both has direct and indirect economic impacts on the businesses in town.
“They eat and drink and visit our grocery stores and our restaurants,” Cooper said of the festival goers and contestants. “Just the money they spend with us as organizers trickles down and makes a huge difference.”
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This trickling down can help out places like Waffleberrys, a cafe just off State Street in Weiser. It sits close to Memorial Park, where the festival is held, and in between the festival and competition site, which takes place at Weiser High School.
“We all got our place and we do pretty well,” Waffleberry's owner John Newberry said. “But this is a like a shot in the arm for us economic-wise.”
Newberry saw the impact from the festival last year, which was his first year in business.
“We were probably putting through 175 to 180 people a day,” he said. “And today being the first day we’ve been open this week, we’ve probably put through about 50 or 60.”
While the extra business is nice, Newberry feels the festival isn’t bringing in as many people as it used to, and he would like to see it grow.
“As business owners we need to do more promoting of it and help it to grow,” he said. “We’re glad it’s here and we’re glad to have the people come to Weiser because that is good for Weiser.”
The festivities will be going on through the week. On Saturday, there will be the parade at noon and then the national championship of the fiddle contest that night.
