77th Accordion and Fiddle Festival Fills Perth With Reels as Neighbours of Competitors Enjoy First Quiet Night Since August
Competitions run from 9am, with the grand finale at 4.15pm. Somewhere in Perthshire, a family can finally hear the telly.
An accordion, the instrument that requires both arms and the neighbours' patience. Photo: Jorge Royan, “Paris - Accordion Player - 0956”, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
The Perth Accordion and Fiddle Festival returns today for the 77th time, with competitions from 9am and a grand finale at 4.15pm, and households across Perthshire are looking forward to a well-earned silence.
“Our Callum has been practising the same strathspey since the summer,” said a mum from Methven. “I hear it in my sleep. The dog hears it in his sleep. The postman has started whistling it. Today he plays it in front of the judges, and tomorrow, God willing, he takes up golf.”
Festival veterans say the event is the friendliest in the calendar. “Fiddlers and accordionists get on fine,” said one. “The fiddlers think we’re too loud, and we think they’re too squeaky, so it balances out.”
A Perth sound engineer described the grand finale as “a wall of reels” and said it was the only event where he had seen a man take off his cardigan during a slow air.
Organisers have asked anyone arriving dressed for Halloween to note that a man with a squeezebox and a hat is a competitor, not a costume.
The real story: Perth Accordion and Fiddle Festival
Letters to the Editor
The views expressed are those of the reader, and frankly that's on them.
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Callum’s mum is right. We live three doors down. I know that strathspey better than my own phone number.
— Donald F., Methven, 31 October 2026 -
Fiddlers are not squeaky. We are expressive. The accordions are just loud.
— Rhona K., Crieff, 31 October 2026
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