Tim’s Picks: The return of the Fiddlers’ Gathering
An expanded edition of Picks this week, taking you into July Fourth. Counting it off with the return of the Indiana Fiddlers’ Gathering, under the trees in Battle Ground.
Support for this edition comes from MatchBOX Studios. Sixth & South, MatchBOX Studios’ annual fundraising event, returns 7-11 p.m. Friday, July 11, inside MatchBOX and on Sixth Street from South to Alabama streets. The event benefits entrepreneurship by supporting small and local businesses, first-generation founders, pre-revenue startups, and underfunded and underserved innovators. Tickets cover your event admission, music sets by DJ Karabella and Ebony & the Ruckus, local food, NA beverages, access to an auction full of local and experiential items, and two tokens that can be exchanged for curated event experiences such as candle pouring, axe throwing, a petting zoo and more, or drinks from the bar (additional tokens will be available for purchase). Get your tickets and all of the event details: https://mbx.studio/sixthsouth
Please put your hands together for …
By Tim Brouk / For Based in Lafayette
Indiana Fiddlers’ Gathering, 7 p.m. Friday, June 27, 9 a.m. Saturday, June 28, and 11 a.m. Sunday, June 29, Tippecanoe Battlefield Park, Battle Ground — After a year’s hiatus, the treasured Indiana Fiddlers’ Gathering is back live in ’25. And it will be worth the wait with 10 national bluegrass, folk and other traditional American music acts converging onto Battle Ground for the weekend. Band performances will be spread throughout the festival to give fans ample opportunities to listen to the pickin’ and grin. Leading the charge will be Nora Brown & Stephanie Coleman (8 p.m. Friday and 5 p.m. Saturday), a New York banjo and fiddle duo that impressed on NPR’s Tiny Desk concert series in 2023; Earl White String Band (9 p.m. Friday and 10 p.m. Saturday), a bluegrass outfit led by Fiddlin’ Earl White and fresh from a performance at the Kennedy Center; The Tillers (10 p.m. Friday), a young folk quartet that has played Lafayette a few times over the years; Mama Said String Band (7 p.m. Saturday), a four-piece from Louisville, Kentucky, that has crossed the Indiana border many times on tour; and Bedel & Hibbard (4 p.m. Saturday), a young folk duo from Cincinnati. Kountry Kernals, local traditional festival opener, are back, as well. Like in years past, there will be open stage time for local musicians, children’s concerts, square dancing, and informal and impromptu picking sessions among festive attendees. I am pumped to see one of the Greater Lafayette summer musical pillars is back. Tickets, schedules, camping info and more here.
Here's the full Indiana Fiddlers’ Gathering schedule (ticketed performances and events unless marked):
Friday, June 27
7 p.m.: Kountry Kernals
8 p.m.: Stephanie Coleman and Nora Brown
9 p.m.: Earl White String Band
10 p.m.: The Tillers
Saturday morning, June 28 (free)
9 a.m.-noon: Workshops
10-10:40 a.m.: Children's Concert with Mark Lyons
10:50-11:30 a.m.: Children's Concert with Bobcat Opossum
Noon-1:45 p.m.: Open Stage
Saturday afternoon, June 28
2 p.m.: Jeremy Stephens and Corrina Rose Logston
3 p.m.: Lynx Lynx
4 p.m.: Bedel & Hibbard
5 p.m.: Stephanie Coleman and Nora Brown
Saturday afternoon, June 28 (free)
6 p.m.: Square Dance with Earl White String Band and Charmaine Slaven
Saturday evening, June 28
7 p.m.: Mama Said String Band
8 p.m.: Bella Issakova and Randy Clepper
9 p.m.: Jeremy Stephens and Corrina Rose Logston
10 p.m.: Earl White String Band
Sunday, June 29 (donations only)
11 a.m.-noon: Open Stage
Noon: Bahler's Golden Age Band
1 p.m.: Medicinal Bluegrass
2 p.m.: Send off jam
Summer on the Square, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, June 28, downtown Lafayette — Saturday mornings during Farmers Market season are like none other in downtown Lafayette. Fifth and Main streets serve as the epicenter of farm fresh produce, artisanal crafts and fellowship. This footprint of downtown bustle will expand westward this Saturday as the Summer on the Square event returns. More artist, maker and local business booths will congregate around the Tippecanoe County Courthouse to treat the downtown shoppers. Live music and food trucks will also be on hand to further enhance the downtown delights.
Sydney Pollack Film Series, 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 1, Long Center for the Performing Arts, 111 N. Sixth St., Lafayette — The Long Center for the Performing Arts will help beat the heat by offering a summer film series on the works of famed award-winning director Syndey Pollack, who has Hoosier roots. Pollack was actually born in Lafayette in 1934 when his parents were visiting relatives, and the future director of “Tootsie,” “They Way We Were” and “The Firm” just had to make a dramatic entrance. The rest of Pollack’s Indiana years were spent growing up in South Bend. The Sydney Pollack Film series starts next week with a screening of “Out of Africa,” a sweeping romantic epic that earned seven Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director for Pollack. The screening will also celebrate the 40th anniversary of the film. Kudos to the Long Center for going beyond the occasional holiday and kids film series by offering downtown Lafayette a chance to see award-winning films from yesteryear on the big screen in the historic — and air conditioned — theater. $5 a screening. Tickets for Tuesday.
As for the rest of the film festival:
July 11
7 p.m.: “The Way We Were.”
July 12
2 p.m.: “Amazing Grace: A Biography of Aretha Franklin.”
4 p.m.: A panel discussion with local film scholars and critics as they explore Pollack’s Oscar-winning career, artistic influence and cultural impact.
5:30 p.m.: “Tootsie.”
Roots and Roll BBQ, 7 p.m. July 3, People’s Brewing Company, 2006 N. Ninth St., Lafayette — On the heels of the much-anticipated return of Indiana Fiddlers’ Gathering, the annual Roots and Roll BBQ will offer Lafayette live music fans more Americana music in the form Greater Lafayette’s own Davey and the Midnights, Ohio cosmic country queen Angela Perley, and a pair of country-tinged rock ‘n’ roll acts from Nashville, Tennessee — The Minks and the returning DeeOhGee. Smoked meats and sides courtesy of Bonz Barb-BQ. Tickets.
Stars and Stripes Celebration, 6 p.m. July 4, Riehle Plaza, downtown Lafayette — It’s finally fireworks time in downtown Lafayette. The Stars and Stripes Celebration is back again and the Lafayette Citizens Band will lead hours of live music — and you know Souza will be represented — before the blasts start around 10 p.m.
Tim Brouk is a longtime arts and entertainment reporter. He writes here (almost) weekly, tracking things to do for Based in Lafayette.
Thanks, again, for support for this edition from MatchBOX Studios. Sixth & South, MatchBOX Studios’ annual fundraising event, returns 7-11 p.m. Friday, July 11, inside MatchBOX and on Sixth Street from South to Alabama streets. Get your tickets and all of the event details at mbx.studio/sixthsouth
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