Uni’s Fiddle Club performs at Co-op

Uni High’s Fiddle Club performed at the Common Ground Food Co-op on Dec. 1. It was a part of Urbana First Fridays, where local businesses in downtown Urbana have sales and activities to bring people out into the community. This is the second time Fiddle Club has played for the Co-op, after Sarah Buckman, the outreach coordinator at the Co-op, approached them while playing at the Farmer’s Market to ask them to play at a food tasting.

Contrary to its name, Fiddle Club consists of students who play more than just the fiddle, including guitar and even banjo. Customers enjoyed folk music and waltzes while they shopped. Many people stood nearby after finishing their shopping to listen to the music. Little kids danced with their parents and the players had a tambourine that they offered to let children play along with them.

Sam Atkinson, who started the club with Henry Kraatz last April, says that their plan for the money they make is to “see if we can use it to fix the organ once Mr. Murphy gets an estimate, but that’s going to be expensive so we might use it to fix a bass.”

Fiddle club meets in the South Attic during lunch on Wednesdays. It started after the pit orchestra played some fiddle tunes for the audience before Uni’s production of Wind in the Willows last year. Fiddle Club will be playing at the Spring Dinner hosted by Uni’s Spring Club on Dec. 16.