The setting for the Shelburne Rotary’s Golden Anniversary of the Fiddle contest might be a tad less than ideal, but the club has left no stone unturned in its efforts to compensate.

In spite of the Centre Dufferin Recreation Complex construction program that’s still in progress, the only real difference the public will notice is that the washroom facilities will be in portables rather than within the arena itself.

As always, the contest will be inside the arena. The difference for the contestants will be that the practice area will be at other than the Town & Country room as it remains inaccessible because of construction.

“ The Rotary Club of Shelburne is extremely disappointed that the renovated CDRC will not be ready for the contest as was indicated to us last year it would be.

“However, we greatly appreciate the efforts of the CDRC Board in doing all that they can to make the event a success.

“We will be using portable washroom facilities and some tents, but the contest itself will take place indoors at the CDRC. The Town and Country room is not available as a contestant practice area, but other arrangements have been made,” said Rotarian Caroline Mach in an emailed response.

Ms. Mach said it appears there’s be about the same number of entries as there were in 2009, somewhere between 90 and 100.

On a note of optimism, she said she was “sure that everyone will come out and welcome Scott Woods back on the Thursday night and join us for the contest on Friday and Saturday.”

She said, in fact, that ticket sales for both the Scott Woods event and the contest itself “are going very well,” and have been gaining momentum in the past few weeks.

Looking generally back over the years of the contest, it would be fair to say that this is not the first time Rotary along with the other service clubs have faced challenges.

The popularity of the contest has never been in doubt. In the earliest years, fiddlers and their supporters arrived from distances and found there was a practical dearth of accommodations.

In the first year at least, before a succession of parks had been created, several residents came to the rescue of a few who had chanced some makeshift camping.

The first organized campsite was Hyland Park, operated by Kinsmen/Kinettes, along with the Fairgrounds. Circa 1980, Hyland was vacated in favour of a Highway 24 site.

But it seems it always rained at some point during the week of Fiddleville – often upon or shortly after the Lions Club parade. In about 1990, there was a deluge and the Highway 24 site turned into a virtual sea of mud – such that motor homes had to be towed out of the park.

This might have had an adverse effect on the contest itself. Some of the contestants following that year chose to go elsewhere.

Now the Fiddle Park has a permanent home on the Second Line, across from an industrial park. It has an excellent system of roadways along with some electrical services and running water, but one area of the park is prone to flooding.

The draining of the flood area along with additional other services entails about $50,000 which the Town is seeking to raise by expanding the use of the park beyond a single week of the year.

But it is faced with an Ontario Municipal Board hearing to achieve that.

Still, the Town and its service clubs expect to rise once more to the challenges such that the 61st contest and events of the week of Fiddleville are the kind of celebration that would have been befitting the 60th.