Fiddler David Bellegante has been involved with the Iowa State Fair’s oldest competition for over 50 years, all because his great-grandfather, back in 1895, saw a boy dragging a fiddle down a cobblestone street.
He traded a pocketknife and a quarter for it.
Now, four generations of his family have kept fiddling. Bellegante has earned 16 blue ribbons and nine grand championships at the fair, and has served as the contest’s emcee since 2001. He has taught many of the competitors and earned induction into both the Old Time Country Music Hall of Fame and the Iowa Bluegrass Hall of Fame…