Fiddle Fare fundraiser Oct. 24 for the Pocahontas Opera House

Here’s a fun tongue twister to say four times fast:

Fiddlehead Fiddle Fare fundraiser Friday features four appetizers, four beers, and four fiddlers, for forty dollars.

Board members of Pocahontas County Opera House planned this inaugural event to raise money for the concert hall in Marlinton, says Brynn Kusic, Opera House manager.

“The Opera House really wants to keep our ticket prices low, and we want to keep the facility available for the community and of course to fulfill our mission to be the cultural heart of the community and to offer school programs and just to continue to offer the great things that the Opera House has to offer.”

The fundraiser will be held at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Fiddlehead restaurant in Slaty Fork. Local musicians and fiddlers Paul Marganian of the Elk River Ramblers, Mike Burns of Juanita Fireball and the Continental Drifters, Doug Van Gundy of Born Old, and Paolo Marks of Marks Violins are donating their time to perform at the event.

Chef David Carte is planning the menu for the evening. Fayette-county native Carte worked along the East Coast from Rhode Island to North Carolina prior to becoming chef about five years ago at the Elk River Inn and Fiddlehead restaurants.

Menu items include local lamb bratwurst, pretzel bread fired in a wood-oven, spicy beer mustard. And a few surprises:

“Just got some super-nice butternut squash in and acorn squash … Just got it yesterday, so I just got to tie it in,” Carte said.

All four beers are brewed in West Virginia. There will be an oatmeal stout from Thomas, a porter from Elkins, an IPA from Lewisburg, and a pale ale from Wardensville, W.Va.

There also will be a silent auction at the event and organizers are urging people interested in attending to purchase their tickets ahead of time.

“We’re asking that people purchase tickets in advance. Tickets are available by calling the Opera House at 304-799-6645. They’re also available at the 4th Avenue Gallery for advanced purchase, and there are tickets at the Fiddlehead.”