Fiddlin' kids liven up festival

TEMECULA ---- The weather was fine and the music was dandy Saturday for the first day of the Old Town Bluegrass Festival. Performers on three stages kept things lively for a crowd that moved from venue to venue.

Audience members hunkered down on folding chairs, beach chairs and portable canvas chairs to listen and, in some cases, sing along.

The surprise of the day came when a family of itinerant musicians set up a small basket of their CDs and a goldfish bowl and began to play.

"We're just crashing the party," said Andrew Witchger, who played guitar. His wife, Janet, handled the bass and their four children jammed on fiddles, drawing a hand clapping, foot-tapping crowd that packed their sidewalk corner and spilled out onto the street.

They call themselves "Kat and the Fiddle," and, from the first note, they dispelled any lingering notion among their listeners that bluegrass music is just about old men with beards who smoke pipes and chew tobacco. Andy, 13, Jessica, 11, Kat, 10 and Christian, 8, play, sing and do a little acting as they present song after song. Their repertoire included all kinds of songs from traditional Irish to patriotic American.

The family is originally from Boca Raton, Florida, but after playing an engagement at the Calaveras Celtic State Fair, they are visiting Witchger's sister, Mary Louise Schreiber, in Murrieta, he said. The Witchgers are all professionally trained musicians. Last August, they left home to record their first CD in Sonoma. They then hit the road in a trailer, literally singing for their supper. The couple continued home-schooling their children.

"We just quit our jobs, and now we travel and play music on the streets ---- they call it busting," Witchger said.

The family has been playing area schools and churches for the past month, Andrew Witchger said. He started his musical career age 4 as a pianist, he said, but recently took up the guitar to play in the group with his kids.

"We have a great time," he said. "And the main thing is, we've been able to make a living at it. We gave away everything we had and try to live simply ---- so we don't need much."

During the performance, several toddlers got carried away and began two-stepping energetically. P.J. Obregon, 2, of Temecula, seemed tireless and had to be retrieved from among the musicians several times by his parents, Bert and Rebekah. Bert Obregon said they were enjoying the bluegrass music.

"I think it's probably underestimated," he said. "I think people don't appreciate the various types of folk music that are out there."

Adding to the country charm of the occasion, a Clydesdale named Nadia pulled a white carriage offering passengers the feel of another place in time.

A 1928 model A Ford truck owned by Darell Farnbach was parked at the corner of Main and Front Streets, holding a pictorial display of projects like the Vail Ranch restoration. Members of the Temecula Valley Historical Society, including Charolette Fox, stood by to explain the group's goals and plans.

The festival continues today with Lilies of the West, a girl band kicking things off at 11 a.m. Bluegrass Etc., Silverado and the Old Tyme Folk Fiddlers among the performers.

For bluegrass enthusiasts as well as those unfamiliar with the genre, there are hourly music workshops on in the Gazebo near Sam Hicks Park. The entertainment is ongoing until 5 p.m. free of charge.

For information about the festival, call 694-6412 or 678-1456. For information about the Witcher family, call (772)453-9058 or visit the Web site at katandthefiddle.com.

Contact staff writer Agnes Diggs at (909) 676-4315, Ext. 2621, or adiggs@nctimes.com.

3/24/02