for April Phool’s Phun

By JAINE TREADWELL

Features Editor

March 29, 2000 11 PM

Saturday is April Fool’s Day and many tricks will be played – "your blouse is unbuttoned, your tire is flat, you have spinach in your teeth."

All of the joking will be in fun but there will be no "phun" to compare with that going on at Pike Pioneer Museum.

The museum will host its first ever Phiddlin’ on April Phool’s Day porch concert and the best thing about Phiddlin’ on Phool’s Day is that it’s "phree."

Everybody around who likes to pick and grin is invited to be a part of this special event which is a throwback to the days when center stage for any "concert" was somebody’s front porch.

Folks would gather on the porch and under the shade trees and those who could pick would and those who couldn’t would sit back and grin.

"This is something that we have wanted to do at the museum for some time," said Charlotte Gibson, museum director. "Calvin Bodiford teaches string instruments at the schoolhouse twice a week and his students have developed into very good musicians. We wanted to give them an opportunity to be a part of an afternoon of picking and singing."

Pickin’ and grinnin’ and singin’ too?

Bodiford said when the music starts it’s hard to keep from singing and the pickers don’t mind one bit.

Bodiford has organized the Phiddlin’ on April Phool’s Day and the stage will be the front porch of the recently completed Metcalf-Weed Reunion House located below the Adams Country Store.

The Metcalf-Weed cabin is the perfect place for a picking party with its big front porch and huge oak tree to provide extra shade.

"I’ve invited a lot of pickers from around the area and hopefully we’ll have a big crowd," Bodiford said. "Of course, the invitation is open to anyone who likes to pick. There’s no need to call, all you have to do is grab your instrument and join us. The more we have the better it will be."

Bodiford said, because this is the first pickin’ the museum has sponsored, he really doesn’t know how many to expect.

"We would like this to become an annual event," he said. "We’re just planting the seed this year and hopefully it will grow into something really big."

However, Bodiford said the Phiddlin’ is not just for pickers. Anyone who enjoys traditional music will enjoy spending the afternoon at the cabin.

"We’ll have chairs for the listeners but some people might rather bring their own lawn chairs or even blankets," he said. "The Phiddlin’ is going to be a time for fiddlin’ and fun and fellowship.

Rather – phiddlin’ and phun and phellowship.

But anyway you spell it, April Fool’s Day at the museum will be a unique experience – no phoolin’.

Phiddlin’ on April Phools Day will be from 1:30 until 5:30 p.m.

Alma Bodiford will have a table of refreshments and word is that she is baking one of her cakes that draw raves from anyone who tries them.

There is no charge for the Phiddlin’ and strolling the grounds. However, tours of the museum building are $3 for adults, $2 for seniors and $1 for students.