ABOUT FIRESIDE at the FIDDLERS

A little bit of history...

By Mike Argento, FlipsidePA
Some decades ago, a group of guys would get together pretty much every Friday night to play music. They favored the old-time country — the Hanks, Williams and Snow, Roy Acuff, Jimmie Rodgers, that kind of stuff — and would have a good time, nothing more than that. They weren't looking to move to Nashville and be the next big thing. They played because it was fun and after a week of work, it was a good way to relax and unwind.

They did have an idea, a vision. They thought there were a lot of musicians like them, parlor pickers, who deserved to have a place to play, to have a place where they could get together and make music and make music. They founded the York County Fiddler's Association, meeting, initially, in the chicken house at George Flaharty's place near Brogue. Along with Flaharty, there was Bob Brown, Evans Dunnick, Art Stokes, Jack Warner, John and Milton McGurk and Stanley Runkle — all working men who were pretty good pickers in their own right.

That was in 1960.

The association held its first few conventions at the Stewartstown Fairgrounds, the crowds filling the ballfields that was the site of a prisoner-of-war camp during World War II. To promote the early shows, George Flaharty and his friends would climb into the back of a pickup truck and play in parades around York County.

With the money they raised from the convention, and some of their own money, they bought about 20 acres on a gentle hillside near Brogue and built the York County Fiddler's Association grounds — a large hall, a concession stand and an outdoor stage/pavilion. "They built these buildings pretty much themselves," said Roy Flaharty, George's son, who was old enough to carry block for the men laying it when his father and his friends built the place. "They were some big guys and they knew what they were doing."

Since then, The Fiddler's became a southern York County landmark, and site of an annual music festival that attracted 1,500 or more concert-goers, and musicians, amateur and otherwise, from all over the mid-Atlantic region — New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia.

Present day...

In 2020, "The Fiddlers" changed hands over to that of Alliance Fire and Rescue Services and has been completely renovated into the event venue and banquet hall it is today.

Ready to turn your dream event into a reality? Contact us today to schedule a tour of Fireside at the Fiddlers and learn more about our rental options and availability.

Whether you're celebrating a wedding, hosting a music festival, or planning a community event, we're here to help you create memories that will last a lifetime.