2016 - A Musician from Boulder, CO who was one of last year’s plaque winners placed first in this competition. Jordan Ramsey has entered this contest for the last six years and has always made the cut to five. But as they say, the seventh time was the charm and what a charm it was. Jordan attends other festivals such as Rocky Grass and Merlefest but says this Festival is his favorite time of the year. He has been playing the mandolin for the past 15 years and practicing it is one of his hobbies. Others include golf and good food.

2016 - This is the fourth time Wendy Songe entered the National Mountain Dulcimer contest and she placed third. She hails from Tulsa, OK. She considers herself a music teacher and a songwriter. Wendy attends other dulcimer competitions in Texas and Arkansas and has place first in these competitions. She has been playing the mountain dulcimer for almost 6 years and also plays other instruments as the piano, guitar, ukulele, bodhran the djembe and others.

2016 - Second place was awarded to a Car Max Auto Store employee from Houston, TX. This was Cassandra Damper’s first time to the Festival and her first time to enter the National Mountain Dulcimer contest. She has been playing the mountain dulcimer for some sixteen years. Cassandra says she just loves playing music and considers this her one and only hobby. She loves the Festival and you can bet she’ll be back again to compete in this contest.

2016 - One of last year’s plaque winners took first place in this year’s competition. This place was awarded to a musician and teacher from Cedar Park, TX by the name of Mark Gilston. Mark thinks this is about the 10th time he has entered this contest. He says he has been playing the dulcimer for at least the last 45 years. And he does play other instruments such as the gaida, the English concertina, the penny whistle, the guitar and the ocarina.