RANGELEY – The Rangeley Lakes Region Logging Museum has gone all out this year and invited two fine groups from Maine to play on Friday and Saturday, July 29 and 30, at the 31st annual Logging Festival.
Twelve-year-old Mason Strunk of Eustis Ridge will appear during the 7pm Friday Night Program of the Festival, July 29th, at the Church of the Good Shepherd (Episcopal) on Main Street in Rangeley. Mason has been singing his grandfather Jud Strunk’s songs in front of audiences since he was 7. He has performed many times at his father Jack’s restaurant, The Rack, on Sugarloaf Mountain. In 2009 at Saddleback Mountain, Mason and his three-piece band opened for Jonathan Edwards. Mason has also been featured at the Bluegrass Festival in Rangeley. Mason, who plays mandolin, guitar, and beginning piano, has also performed throughout the region. Band member Al Scheeren, who performed with Jud Strunk, now sings with Mason and plays trombone, violin, ukulele, harmonica, and foot cymbal. Mason will sing plenty of logging songs such as “Knock ‘em Down, Twitch ‘em Out, Buck ‘em Out and Go” and “The Sandy River Line,” as well as local favorites such as “The Launching of The White Swan,” (about Cap Wing who built a boat to sail the lake that drowned his Flagstaff Village hometown when CMP dammed the Dead River) and, of course, “Daisy A Day.”
Franco-American fiddler Don Roy will bring his award-winning music to the Museum Field on Saturday July 30th throughout the afternoon. Roy has been playing since age 6 when his uncle Norman Mathieu taught him how to play guitar. He then accompanied another uncle, Lucien Mathieu, who taught him how to play fiddle at 15. Now, Don also plays mandolin and banjo, and he crafts violins and violas. While growing up in Rockland, he was influenced by fiddlers such as Ben Guillemette. In 2003, Don and an apprentice won a Traditional Arts Apprenticeship grant from the Maine Arts Commission. And twice, in 1999 and 2004, Don was honored with Maine State Fellowship awards. Along with pianist/step dancer Cindy Roy and bassist Jay Young, Don performs throughout the Eastern States. Don Roy’s toe-tapping music is available on his three CDs at http://www.donroyonline.com
Join us for this year’s Logging Festival and enjoy Rangeley’s biggest parade, the best beanhole bean noontime meal, the thrills of the Woodsmen’s Competition, and some of the finest music in the state of Maine. Visit http://www.rlrlm.org . FMI (music): 864-3421. FMI (Festival): 864-5551.
