From her second-place finish in the 18-and-under class in 2006, Julie Fitzgerald of Bancroft has become only the third female fiddler to capture first-place in the 60-year history of Shelburne Rotary’s Canadian Open Championship Old Time Fiddlers Contest.

The only previous female fiddlers to have captured the top title were Eleanor Townsend in 1979 and April Verch in 1998. But don’t be surprised if there’s a fourth female winner in the near future: Julie’s sister Kerry Fitzpatrick was among the finalists Saturday, and Erika Wieler of Brampton has been a challenger who has almost made it although she came seventh Saturday after some tight judging.

In addition to a sixth-place finish among the original 10 entrants in the Championship class, Kerry took first place for the Canadian Tune of Choice with Brian Pickett’s Karen’s March.

There were five female finalists among the age 18- and-under fiddlers – a class that emcee Gary Ballagh said equalled the quality of the championship competitors of previous years.

Julie’s win would have come as no surprise to the near-capacity crowd of an estimated 800 at Centre Dufferin Recreation Complex Saturday night. For at least the second time in the past five years, Julie also picked up the Merv Woods Memorial trophy as the audience favourite.

But the judges must have had a hard time deciding who should be in first place among the seven Saturday night finalists.

Mathew Johnson, whose image as a 5-year-old is on the Laurie McGraw print that Julie won this year along with Kinette’s $1,500, came second in the Championship class for a Rotary trophy and $1,250. He had been the 2008 champion. This year, he edged the 2009 champion, Kyle Charron, who came in third Saturday and captured the Rotary trophy and $750 from Dufferin Windows.

Greg Henry of Sombra, ON, was fourth in the Championship class; Don Mighton of Hanover fifth, Julie’s sister Kerry Fitzgerald sixth; and Erika Wieler seventh.

Another Fitzgerald from Bancroft is the Junior Champion for 2010. Tom Fitzgerald received the Ray Hardick Memorial trophy from Mary Hardick and the Marion Waite award from Joan Wallace as winner of the age 13-18 category among seven finalists. Aynsley Porchak of Woodstock came second, and Ellen Daly of Ottawa was third. There had been 16 fiddlers in that category.

The Fitzgerald name kept popping up everywhere. Julie took first place in Novelty while brother Tom came second. The each got the Royal Bank McIntosh trophy plus $400 and $200 respectively.

The Novelty class had a novel twist when Emcee Ballagh’s family – Matthew, Michael, Devan and Paige – from Teeswater entered as a group and the emcee assisted them by holding a microphone to one of the instruments. When they finished in third place the emcee, who was not listed as a competitor, quickly snatched the $100 prize money himself.

The Duet class had 12 entries. Of those, Julie and Kerry Fitzpatrick took first prize, followed by Philip and Eric Provencher and Greg Williams and Emily Yarascavitch.

In the Gospel class, the trio of Julie, Kerry and Tom Fitzgerald again edged the Provencher team. Third place went to Colleen and Alana Jenish.

Laura Lefebvre, Dan Stacey and Melika Lemelin finished in that order from a field of nine in the 19-to-55 age category. Another Lemelin, Paul- Jacob, 4, was the youngest fiddler among 14 in the age 9 and under category.

The fiddler judged best in that category was Adelb Leahy. Amanda MacInnis was second, and Greg Leahy third.

Celine Murray of Dorchester won the age 10-12 class, followed by Emma March of Pembroke and Andrew Dawydchak of Etobicoke.

Long-time competitor Alf Leno of Collingwood, followed by Real Levesque of Burlington and Bruce Armitage of Quyon, PQ, were 1-2-3 in the 55-and-over category, and Mr. Leno at 84 was also the oldest competitor..