THE NEWS FROM BRUNER’S BROOD-LABOUR DAY MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2025-47TH PEMBROKE FIDDLE AND STEP DANCE CONTEST, PEMBROKE, ONTARIO

Hello, everyone!

As I write this article on route to Ottawa, Ontario to Bergen, Norway via Montreal and Frankfurt, I trust all is well with you and that the first weekend of September was a good one for you. In Canada, the first Monday of September is Labour Day, which is a national long weekend. For those who have recently liked and followed my artist page since my last posting, thank you very much for your interest and kind support, as I warmly welcome the new followers who have come onboard. Please share this page with others, tell those you know that this page and website exists, and let them know that activities and events are lining up for fall and winter 2025. Here’s the latest for my Facebook pages and www.trentbruner.com. After my trip to Kamloops, B.C. for the 35^th Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Competition, I travelled onwards to the Ottawa Valley region of Ontario for the 47^th Pembroke Fiddle and Step Dance Contest as one of the house accompanists alongside Guylaine Gagner of Valleyfield, Quebec. The fiddle contest judges were Shane Cook, Brian Hebert and Louis Schryer. For the step dance portion, Tiffany Fewster Salt, Kerry Fitzgerald and Maria Peppler were the judges. Robbie Dagenais returned as house fiddler for the dancers, while Art Jamieson and Paul Lemelin shared duties as weekend Masters of Ceremonies. Entries had increased gradually in total for 2025 over last year, with the highest number of contestants being 17 in the Junior Fiddle Class (18 and under). In addition, members of these participating families brought some of their friends and relatives back into Riverside Park, which saw an increase of almost 100 trailers camping in the park over last year. More jam sessions throughout the week occurred because of it. I’ll have a photo of the 2025 finals program attached with this article with most of the winners indicated, but for the Championship Class Fiddle, Anna Smilek of Waterloo, Ontario was the winner while Becky Nicholson (nee Reid) of Arnprior, Ontario was the championship class step dance winner. When I was in Pembroke, I noticed a quiet confidence amongst the committee and those in attendance that interest was being restored amongst the participants, their families and friends that this annual celebration of fiddle, dance and fellowship would begin to overcome challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to this landmark contest on the Canadian fiddle calendar. Dates are already set for Labour Day Weekend 2026, September 4-5 and were publicly announced by the committee during the Saturday Night finals. Mark your calendars for next year’s event. In addition, talk began amongst the public about what should happen with Pembroke in 2028. Why do I mention 2028? It will be the 50^th edition of the Pembroke Fiddle and Step Dance Contest, and words of anticipation began to be shared with me about what the various themes of the contest should be or be included about a possible celebration. I have some of these memories I can share in this article that could be a starting point for recollection and further action. Looking back, Pembroke has a long history of wonderful musical memories and friendships that were born and nurtured since the contest’s beginnings in 1976 before I attended Pembroke for the first time, such as Patti Kusturok (Manitoba) and Bruce Blair (Alberta) winning the championship class fiddle, Yvon Cuillerier from Quebec, who would have Theo Bujeau at his side as his piano accompanist, and who would be at most of the first editions of this competition before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. Graham Townsend was the guest artist with the dynamic Nicole Lacaille as house accompanist on piano, the Gardiner Family from Pembroke, who would grace the stage with their wonderful step dancing routines, and other memories that would require additional articles from other people to do justice with this traditional folklore history. My first memory of significance with Pembroke was the beginning of Cleaver’s World with Robbie Dagenais (The Original Cleaver), Rodney Krip (Brother Cleaver), Tyler Kushneryk (Little Cleaver), Dan Stacey (Cousin Cleaver), Larry Stacey (Grandpa Cleaver), along with Stephanie Cadman, Beck Childerhose and Chanda Gibson-Leahy (The Cleavettes)! This story began to blossom in 1991, setting the stage for Tent City and Cleaver’s Corner, bringing many top rated championship class fiddlers and step dancers together, and the background for what would become our first album as The Cleavers (Rodney Krip, Tyler Kushneryk and Yours Truly), Cleaver’s World, in 1994. When the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Competition began in Nepean, Ontario in 1990, contestants from all over Canada would make a point of staying for both contests and bring many benefits for participation to both events because at that time, the Ottawa Valley was the place to be for everyone in the Canadian fiddle community. My first time to Pembroke was in September 1992 at the Pembroke Memorial Centre, the City’s hockey arena, which was filled to capacity around the rink and ice surface. I was drafted by Robbie Dagenais to accompany the Dueling Dancers (April and Tawnya Verch, along with Nathan and Jonathan Pilatzke) as part of a pickup band for their opening act during the Saturday Night Finals, which was followed by me accompanying Calvin Vollrath as the guest artist. From my own recollection, Calvin’s 1992 performance was a significant moment for fiddlers in Western Canada, as many began later to participate from the Four Western Provinces when they heard how well Calvin was received both personally and musically. For me, it marked the beginning as an accompanist for Calvin’s later visits to Pembroke, both on stage at the arena for his guest artist spots, when he shared the stage with the fiddle and step dance judges during the Saturday Night Finals, and to when I got hired as a house accompanist alongside Carolyn Woods, John Mitchell, Germain Leduc and Guylaine Gagner. In Riverside Park, we had  numerous stops to the Duheme Tent, with hosts Gerald Duheme and Dinah Barnes hosting many musicians after lunch for the Sunday Afternoon concerts, playing visits to Al and Sheila McVicar’s tent, visits to the Lamarche tent for the “Pure Laine Competition” which you have to see to believe, our joint visits to Jim and Dianna Hickey’s trailer for the swing jam sessions with Brian Hebert, Louis Schryer, Peter Dawson, Andre Giroux (guitar) and many other talented musicians, the great potluck suppers supplied by all who camped near the Hickeys and other members of the organizing committee, the Sunday night visits to “Groupe Leduc” and the Schryer family tent, and the spontaneous 1995 late night jam session with Calvin, Graham Townsend, Eleanor Townsend, April Verch and Brian Hebert are only a sample of memories I will forever cherish and treasure. More musical information will come in the next article after I return to Norway for church music work, choir conducting and substitute piano teaching in the Bergen area, as well as rejoin my wife and family. Dates for my performance calendar will be updated shortly. Until next time, see you somewhere down the musical trail! Musically yours, Trent