Ohio Valley Filk Fest 26

Concerts

After the Mad Hatter's Tea Party opens the con early Friday evening, we will mesmerize your senses with our famed Pegasus Nominees Concert! One last chance to hear all the nominees before voting closes for the Pegasus Awards. Saturday, we start off with our cracked toasts TJ & Mitchell Burnside Clapp, followed by a curiously odd medley chosen by our Honored Listener Kathleen Sloan, then the eccentric Randy Hoffman, our bonny Interfilk guests Bedlam Bards, and finish up with those unbalanced masters of harmony, our Guests of Honor Urban Tapestry! Sunday, the crazed Chamberfilk ensemble will perform, then we will introduce you to one of our newer voices in filk the pott-y (as in Harry) Witherwings, and a special kids concert by the educative Tim Griffin will close out kids programming.

Pegasus Nominees Concert

On Friday night we will again host the Pegasus Nominees concert at which all of the songs nominated for the Pegasus Awards will be performed, giving everyone one last chance to hear them before voting.

Workshops

Our menu of experiments workshops this year includes: Percussion, Melody Accompaniment with Non-Guitar, Self-Hypnotism, Promoting Your Music, Morning Yoga, Gaining Confidence Performing, Lyric Writing, Understanding Melodic Structure, Lead & Follow: An Intro to Jamming, Beading, Stargazing and Chamberfilk.

Parties

We officially open the con Friday evening at 7:00 pm with our famous Mad Hatter's Tea Party (and the Dormouse Tea Party for the kids). This year we are celebrating our inner Mad Scientist so come appropriately dressed; at least wear a hat! (Hats are compulsory. If you don't have one, we will select one for you at the door from the stable of chapeaus maintained by the convention, Don't make us choose your hat. You may not like it.) Prizes for best attire & hats will be awarded by our party hosts extraordinaire Mary Frost-Pierson and Elaine Richards.

Special events in the consuite include an apple tasting & fondue party late Friday night & the ice cream social Saturday evening. Rumor has it there may also be a CD release party sometime during the weekend.

Pegasus Awards Banquet

The Food! The Suspense! The Drama! The Speeches! (Well, maybe not the speeches.) Tickets for this Saturday evening event sell out fast (by early Friday evening the past few years) so buy your tickets early or even (gasp!) when you pre-register (and it’s cheaper too!). P.S. If you have special dietary needs or concerns we can arrange for the hotel to prepare a special meal just for you. But you need to tell us at least one week BEFORE the con. Send an email to banquet@ovff.org or a snail mail to the attention of Banquet Coordinator.

Songwriting Contests

They're fun, challenging, and the results can be spectacular! Our first contest is the traditional "write a song on a topic linked to the con theme" which this year is: "It's Not Rocket Science." Entries should be new material of limited distribution written between October 2009 and October 2010 with original lyrics set to either original or pre-existing music.

Our second contest is for all you Iron Filkers out there. We challenge you to write a song at the con itself on a topic not announced until the con opens.

In both contests, the songs are to be performed before an audience and a panel of judges; but are judged on the writing quality, not the strength of the performance. If the songwriter is not a performer, the entry may be performed by a friend though the song writer must be present at the con. Please bring 3 copies of your song for the judges.

See the Contest Winners page for details of who has won in the past.

One-Shots/Twofers

Because of the limited number of slots and the number of people who want to have one of them, the slots will allocated by drawing names of those who sign up on the list at the registration desk.

Open Filking

Open filking will be rampant, as usual, througout the con. Some is scheduled, some will be ad-hoc, some will be themed, some will be pure chaos, and all will be enjoyable.

Interfilk Auction

It is difficult to describe this voice auction at OVFF. Where do we start? With the notorious Interfilk Wenches? With the chocolate? (There’s always chocolate.) With the one-of-a-kind items offered at this event? With the running jokes? Don’t miss out on the frenetic fun and help support Interfilk at the same time!

Theme Filks

Theme filks are circles with a particular topic, or theme. Most of the time slots can be signed up for on a first come, first-served basis at the registration desk.

Chamberfilk

Phil Textor has arranged popular filk songs as chamber music, and is seeking more people to play them at OVFF. You can contact Phil at textorpmt at yahoo dot com.

Farewell Jam Session

OVFF ends with the traditional farewell jam session.

Dead Dog Dinner Run

Following the Farewell Jam Session, the traditional pilgrimage to BD's Mongolian BBQ for the "Dead Dog" dinner will be made.

Children's Programming

OVFF is proud of the quality and extensiveness of our children's programming. We are planning the usual array of fun activities for all of OVFF's kids this year. Please see our Kids Programming Page for more information.