The Kole Crook Fiddle Association (KCFA) is comprised of fiddle-music lovers who have come together in memory of Kole Crook, well-loved and respected Metis fiddler who died in a plane crash December 31, 2001. Kole was on his way from Ft. Good Hope, NT, to Tulita, NT to play for a New Year's Eve dance in that community when the small plane he was travelling struck a mountain in bad weather. Since that tragic accident, Kole's friends have come together in his memory to form an association dedicated to carrying on his work, teaching fiddle to young people in Canada's Northwest Territories. We have named our association, our fiddle group and our annual fiddle camp after him.
As of Feb. 6, 2006, the KCFA is three years old. It is a registered society with chapters in no less than six northern communities: Wrigley, Ft. Simpson, Jean Marie River, Hay River, Ft. Providence and Ft. Smith. Each community has a number of budding fiddlers as well as at least one person dedicated to facilitating fiddle classes. Members of these chapters come together regularly for various fiddle-related activities. The KCFA is currently running a fiddle program with four elements: its annual Kole Crook Fiddle Camp, an annual fiddle teachers' workshop, an itinerant fiddle-teacher program and a program to send students from member-communities to fiddle camps elsewhere in Canada. Our board of directors is comprised of Helen Edgar, Three Brooks, N.B.; Lewis and Louise Beck, Ft. Smith; Andrea Bettger, Hay River; Violet Landry, Ft. Providence; Gerda Hazenberg, Yellowknife; Stella Pellissey, Wrigley.
The Kole Crook Fiddlers at the Great Northern Arts Festival, Inuvik, NWT, July, 2005
Fiddle-Teacher Workshop, Ft. Providence, NWT, January, 2005
Concert at the 3rd Annual Kole Crook Fiddle Camp, Ft. Smith, NWT, March, 2005
Concert at our Second Annual Kole Crook Fiddle Camp, Ft. Simpson, NT, Feb., 2004. Andrea Bettger and Nedd Kenney (foreground) were two of our teachers.
