Fiddlin’ Around : Oak View: Amateur music makers came from far and wide to participate in the fifth annual contest.

Fifty fiddlers mixed hillbilly tunes with haunting waltzes at the Oak View Community Center on Sunday as they took to the stage for the area’s annual Old Time Amateur Fiddle Contest.

But fiddling was not the only activity of the day, as more than 100 spectators also turned out to listen to music, get together with old friends and meet new people.

“Part of the fun is just getting together with people and jamming,” said Bill Scruggs, a Fillmore violin maker. Scruggs placed second in the men’s division.

The contest, now in its fifth year, was sponsored by the California State Old-Time Fiddlers Assn., District 8, which covers Ventura, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles counties. With more than 400 members, it is the second-largest among 13 districts in the state, President David Deneau said. The association has 2,200 members.

Fiddlers from as far as Bakersfield and San Diego made the trek to Oak View.

Leta Talley was one of nine contestants from Bakersfield. It was her third contest. “It is the first year I came and didn’t place in the top three,” she said. “I’m a little hurt, I’ll be honest.”

For some musicians, fiddling is a tradition handed down through the generations.

Susie Thielmann, 30, of Santa Barbara said she has been playing the fiddle since high school. Thielmann, whose two young daughters also were contestants, won the women’s division.

“I started out on my grandfather’s fiddle,” Thielmann said. “He played, so my mom made me play. I guess you could call it a family tradition.”

The contestants performed to the accompaniment of guitarists on a stage lined with blue and orange paper cutouts of fiddlers. They played old-time songs from Texas and Oklahoma with names such as “Ragtime Annie,” “Bile Them Cabbage Down” and “Dill Pickle Rag.”

Outside on the patio, children romped on swings and everyone was talking, practicing or waiting their turn in the daylong competition.

Kevin Hoekendorf, 6, of Camarillo said he has taken lessons for 10 months. He was rehearsing for the finals on a 14-inch fiddle and having a good time. “I like learning new songs,” he said.

Six categories of fiddlers competed: Pee Wees for children ages 8 and younger, Junior Junior for 9- to 12-year-olds, Junior for 13- to 18-year-olds, Women, Men and Seniors for contestants aged 60 and over.

Musicians took to the stage with only their fiddles and bows, in keeping with the fiddler tradition of playing without sheet music, said Adrian Bush, contest co-chairman. “Most fiddlers don’t play by sheet music. They play by ear. They listen to the tune and it just comes out,” he said.

Thirty trophies were awarded Sunday on the basis of the difficulty of the tune, rhythm and bowing, intonation, and old-time sound-slurring and slipping style, Bush said.

Slurring and slipping are two of the technical differences between violinists and fiddlers. “There is no difference between the fiddle and the violin, except in the way it is played,” Bush said. Fiddlers concentrate more on the lower notes, for example, and play two strings at the same time, he said.

“It’s fun and happy, not structured,” Bush said.

Spectators on Sunday ranged from fiddling enthusiasts to people who heard about it by chance and have never played an instrument. Ann Papin, an accounting clerk from Newbury Park, arrived at the competition at 9 a.m. and said she was going to stay through the afternoon.

“I’ve enjoyed every single bit of it. It is a fun day.”