The 2025 Banjo Gathering will be held in Carrboro/ Chapel Hill, North Carolina from Thursday, October 30 to Sunday, November 2, at the Hampton Inn & Suites Chapel Hill-Carrboro.
This is the first time the Banjo Gathering has been in North Carolina, and we are visiting the Southern Folklife Collection at the UNC Library, as well as celebrating North Carolina banjo makers, players, stylings and 20 years since the first Black Banjo Gathering.
The Gathering consists of three full days of presentations, exhibitions, and a banjo marketplace for studying, buying, selling, and trading historical and vintage banjos, parts, and related items. We also have banjos from some of the world’s finest instrument makers available to view and buy/trade.
Since 1998, the Banjo Gathering has been the platform for banjo collectors, researchers, instrument builders, and musicians to share new scholarship and findings about the banjo as a historical, cultural, and built object.
The Gathering consists of three full days of presentations, exhibitions, and a banjo marketplace for studying, buying, selling, and trading historical and vintage banjos, parts, and related items. We also have banjos from some of the world’s finest instrument makers available to view and buy/trade.
Since 1998, the Banjo Gathering has been the platform for banjo collectors, researchers, instrument builders, and musicians to share new scholarship and findings about the banjo as a historical, cultural, and built object.
Registration
$250 - Full Access (early bird price) to the 2025 Banjo Gathering including a field trip to the UNC Library and collections, live presentations, virtual recordings, special presentations, and more!
$150 - Virtual Access Access to presentation recordings of the 2025 Banjo Gathering
Please contact us if you have questions about student/ working musician/ luthier or hardship registration rates.
Please contact us if you have questions about student/ working musician/ luthier or hardship registration rates.
Hotel Information
Presentations, panels, and the display will be at the Hampton Inn & Suites Chapel Hill-Carrboro. Centrally located in Carrboro and walking distance to Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, the hotel includes complimentary breakfast and is next to coffee shops, a brewery, the Weaver Street Market grocery store, and restaurants.
You can reserve a room using this link or by calling the hotel directly at 919-969-6988 and mentioning the group code “910” or “The Banjo Gathering” prior to the cutoff date of 9/14/25 to receive the discounted group rate of $209 a night. The rate includes complimentary breakfast and free WiFi. If you are interested in sharing a room with someone, we've created this roommate request form so you can connect with others.
You can reserve a room using this link or by calling the hotel directly at 919-969-6988 and mentioning the group code “910” or “The Banjo Gathering” prior to the cutoff date of 9/14/25 to receive the discounted group rate of $209 a night. The rate includes complimentary breakfast and free WiFi. If you are interested in sharing a room with someone, we've created this roommate request form so you can connect with others.
Presentations & Panels
Wednesday, October 29, 2025
If you are arriving in the area early, we have two pre-event activities planned.
2:00 PM-5:00 PM -- PRE-EVENT TOUR - Hook & Line - Join curator Michael Ananian for a tour of the Hook & Line art exhibits celebrating the music of Joe and Odell Thompson in Mebane, North Carolina. About a thirty minute drive from Chapel Hill/ Carrboro, folks will be carpooling/ driving on their own.
5:00 PM-7:00 PM -- Early Arrival Happy Hour in Carrboro - Join us at Lapin Bleu for an informal happy hour! At 7:30, the weekly Cajun dance party starts.
Thursday, October 30, 2025
10:00 AM-2:00 PM -- SET UP @ Hampton Inn Carrboro
1:00 PM-1:45 PM -- WELCOME @ Hampton Inn and carpool/ walk to UNC Wilson Library (5 min drive, 30 min walk)
2:00 PM-2:45 PM -- UNC Wilson Library Visit - Pop up exhibit featuring highlights from UNC’s collections.
2:45 PM-3:00 PM -- BREAK
3:00 PM-3:30 PM – UNC Wilson Library Visit - Join Steven Weiss for a presentation on UNC’s Southern Folklife Collection
3:30 PM-3:45 PM -- UNC Wilson Library Visit - Introduction to historic banjo music with Kristina Gaddy and Lee Bidgood
3:45 PM-4:30 PM – UNC Wilson Library Visit - Historically inspired banjo performance - The 2025 publication of the “Go Back and Fetch It” collection (Gaddy and Giddens, UNC Press) offers new opportunities for “Recovering Early Black Music in the Americans for Fiddle and Banjo” through study, reflection, and performance. This presentation brings the musical and contextual information in this collection into dialogue with western art musicians’ practices of historically-informed performance. What can we in the “String band” world learn from folks who focus on revival of music from the 17th and 18th century? What does a focus on people of color, and locales in the Caribbean and rural North American contexts bring to our understanding of and performance of music from what Lingold (2023) calls the moment of the “African Atlantic” at the intersection of colonialism, enslavement, and nation-building? The performing group includes East Tennessee State University faculty Roy Andrade and Lee Bidgood, as well as ETSU Bluegrass, Old-Time, and Roots Music Studies students Preston Alexander and Reid Warren.
4:30PM-5:00PM - UNC Wilson Library Visit - Open time to talk and explore the other galleries in the building before closing. There will be a large exhibit mounted in the building’s three galleries featuring the work of photographers Burk Uzzle and Roland L. Freeman.
5:00PM-7:30PM - DINNER/ DISPLAY TIME*
7:30PM-10:00PM - SOCIAL*/ Screening of Cece Conway's documentary on the 2005 Black Banjo Gathering
Friday, October 31, 2025
10:00 AM–10:45 AM - Hook and Line --The Thompson Music & Arts Festival - Michael Ananian will share with the banjo community the research, insights, music, and visual art inspired by Joe and Odell Thompson and “Hook and Line--The Thompson Music & Arts Heritage Festival.”
10:50 AM–11:35 AM - Josh Thomas's CooCoo and Black Horse Racing Traditions - Cece Conway - Josh Thomas's (1881–1970) crucial banjo track "Coo Coo," includes a 4-mile horse race in a rainstorm that has been clarified by the Smithsonian research. Josh’s song honors the legacy of the Black labor and skills that contributed to horse racing. Conway will provide a photo of Josh Thomas, bits of his important oral history, play his wonderful long and incredible banjo performance, explain how the new research clarified some of his challenging transcription of the words, and clarify his honoring of Blacks' contributions caring for, racing, and training Thoroughbreds– including Darley.
11:35 AM–2:00 PM - LUNCH/ DISPLAY TIME*
2:00 PM–3:30 PM - Reflections on the Black Banjo Gathering - Cece Conway, Sule Greg Wilson, Tony Thomas in conversation with Joseph Johnson - Twenty years since the Black Banjo Gathering, held in 2005 in Boone, North Carolina, the three organizers will discuss the event’s legacy and what the future holds for Black banjo research and playing.
3:30 PM–4:00 PM - BREAK/ DISPLAY TIME*
4:00 PM–4:30 PM - An Exploration and Appreciation of Eric Muller, Author of Mel Bay's Frailing the 5-String Banjo: An Instruction Manual - Chuck Levy - Eric Muller and Barbara Koehler’s Frailing the 5-String Banjo: An Instruction Manual, published in 1973, has had a large and lasting impact. More than half a century later, it is still in print and selling well. It deserves recognition as the first book dedicated solely to teaching clawhammer banjo technique in the modern era. The book includes a detailed breakdown of right-hand mechanics, as well as tasteful tune arrangements in calligraphic notation, chord shapes, source recordings, and photos of the Hammons family by Carl Fleischauer. It arose as a product of the folk and old-time music scene centered in Gainesville, Florida at the time. This presentation reviews the book and its genesis, and focuses on Muller, who is remembered as a remarkable musician, generous teacher and a colorful character. The presentation is based on interviews with those who knew Muller, including his co-author Barbara Koehler, his band mates, and students.
4:35 PM–5:20 PM - 25 Years After America’s Instrument - Phillip Gura and Jim Bollman in conversation with Daniel Wheeldon - Celebrating the 25th year of the book America’s Instrument: The Banjo in the 19th Century, authors Gura and Bollman will discuss how the book came to be, what they included in it, what their hopes were for it, and how it began to change banjo research.
6:00 PM–7:30 PM - DINNER/ DISPLAY TIME*
7:30 PM–8:15 PM - Mento: Banjo music from Jamaica - David Strickler - Mento is a folk-pop music style from Jamaica that predates reggae, rock-steady, and ska. Unlike those more familiar genres, mento music often includes a 4-string banjo. We will consider how the banjo returned to Jamaica and became incorporated into mento music. We will watch video clips of mento performers and briefly compare mento to other popular music forms from the Caribbean.
8:20 PM - SOCIAL/ DISPLAY TIME*/ Screening of "Don't Get Trouble in Your Mind: The Carolina Chocolate Drops' Story"
(On Friday night from 7-10pm, the Square Heels Square Dance Club hosts a dance a the Olin Binkley Baptist Church in Chapel Hill. Click here for more info.)
Saturday, November 1, 2025
10:00 AM–10:30 AM - How to Restore an 1850s Banjo to Playability - Robert Morrison - For the past 47 years, Morrison has located and restored 19th century banjos to playability for every decade from the 1850s to the 1890s. A few years ago, Morrison purchased an 1850s banjo and partnered with John Pringle, an internationally known luthier and viol maker to see if together we could bring the instrument back to playability without altering the originality of the banjo as possible.
10:35 AM–11:05AM - Survey of Tenor Banjos Created By Andrew Boarman - Isaac McCarthy - This ethnographic study documents the extent to which West Virginian luthier Andrew Boarman created tenor banjos. Tenor banjos are not conventionally used within bluegrass music, which Andrew Boarman was conventionally associated with. Boarman, specifically known for his renowned “Dixie Grand” line of 5-string banjos, has never been formally documented to make tenor banjos; as such, through both archival research and live interviews, this study documents the extent to which Boarman’s work creating these instruments can be identified. Through these methods, this study identified one tenor banjo and uncovered discrepancies linking Andrew Boarman to up to two other instruments, ultimately debunking the validity of such statements. This study concluded that the tenor banjo, originally constructed as a gift, was confirmed to be both constructed by Andrew Boarman and the only tenor banjo he ever made.
11:10AM - 12:10 PM - The Lew Snowden Banjo at the Smithsonian NMAAHC - Pete Ross, Howard Sacks, Judy Sacks, and Steven Lewis - Stephen Lewis of the National Museum of African American History and Culture recently acquired part of the Snowden family's collection, including Lew Snowden's banjo. Banjo maker Pete Ross will give a physical overview of the homemade instrument, possibly dating from the 1860s. Howard and Judy Sacks, authors of Way Up North in Dixie, will give a background on the Snowden family and Black music making in Ohio. Stephen will talk about the Smithsonian's acquisition of and plans for the collection.
12:10 PM–2:30 PM - LUNCH/ DISPLAY TIME*
2:30 PM–3:20 PM - Roots & Resonance: The Past, Present, and Future of North Carolina Banjo Building - Patrick Sawyer in Conversation with North Carolina Banjo Builders - Panelists will share personal stories, key influences, and the regional factors that led them to build where they build—whether that’s deep in the Blue Ridge or in revitalized urban workshops. Together, they’ll explore why North Carolina continues to nurture such a strong culture of banjo craftsmanship, from the legacy of early makers like Kyle Creed, Frank Proffitt, and others, to the support of local music communities, abundant native hardwoods, and the region’s deep respect for traditional Appalachian arts. The discussion will also address the challenges and opportunities facing small boutique builders and mid-scale manufacturers today, from supply chain and tooling innovations to workforce sustainability and growing global demand for handmade instruments. As the panelists reflect on North Carolina’s legacy, they’ll also share their visions for ensuring that banjo building remains a thriving, forward-looking tradition in the state.
3:25 PM–4:10 PM - The Gibson Mastertone, Lloyd Loar and the Creation of Carolina Bluegrass - Tony Williamson - In 1922, The Gibson Mandolin and Guitar Company issued the Mastertone Banjo, a quantum leap forward in instrument technology based on schematics drawn by Acoustic Engineer Lloyd Loar. Though intended for Jazz musicians and marketed as such by Gibson, additional improvements by Loar’s successor at Gibson, George Altermatt, caught the eyes and ears of country players who embraced the powerful sound. In particular, brilliant North Carolina musicians including Daner Johnson, Charlie Poole, Fletcher Henley, Snuffy Jenkins, and Mac Woolbright built on African American traditions to create a new, distinctive style. In Flint Hill, North Carolina, Earl Scruggs grew up absorbing these exciting sounds and took these innovations even further with a style The New York Times called “Folk Music in Overdrive.” With a priceless collection of original Mastertone Banjos from the 1920s and 1930s, including a 1922 TB-5 (the same model as Lloyd Loar’s personal banjo), and a 1929 gold-plated Gibson “flathead” formerly owned by Earl Scruggs himself, North Carolina Heritage Award Honoree Tony Williamson demonstrates not only the historical contributions of the Mastertone Banjo to Carolina music, but, with his performances, the evolution of sound and style that led to the most popular banjo music in history.
4:15 PM–4:45 PM - BREAK/ DISPLAY TIME*
4:45 PM–5:15 PM - A Remembrance of Hank Schwartz
5:20 PM–6:05 PM - Highlights from the Hank Schwartz Collection - Jim Bollman
6:00 PM–7:30 PM - DINNER*
7:30 PM–8:15 PM - The Black Banjo Reclamation Project - Hannah Mayree - This presentation will explore "he work of the BBRP and the ways that this musician/crafter relationship incorporates feminist, Black, indigenous and land based perspectives into the construction of the banjo, their study of the Haitian Banza, and the modern banjo to create instruments for Black communities while teaching the skills that are necessary to build and repair these instruments by hand.
8:15 PM–SOCIAL*
Sunday, November 2, 2025
10:00 AM–NOON - Clean Up
10:00 AM–1:00 PM - Brunch & Jam
*Throughout the event, participants can display, buy, trade, and sell banjos and banjo ephemera, or just hang out and look at and play all the banjos.
If you are arriving in the area early, we have two pre-event activities planned.
2:00 PM-5:00 PM -- PRE-EVENT TOUR - Hook & Line - Join curator Michael Ananian for a tour of the Hook & Line art exhibits celebrating the music of Joe and Odell Thompson in Mebane, North Carolina. About a thirty minute drive from Chapel Hill/ Carrboro, folks will be carpooling/ driving on their own.
5:00 PM-7:00 PM -- Early Arrival Happy Hour in Carrboro - Join us at Lapin Bleu for an informal happy hour! At 7:30, the weekly Cajun dance party starts.
Thursday, October 30, 2025
10:00 AM-2:00 PM -- SET UP @ Hampton Inn Carrboro
1:00 PM-1:45 PM -- WELCOME @ Hampton Inn and carpool/ walk to UNC Wilson Library (5 min drive, 30 min walk)
2:00 PM-2:45 PM -- UNC Wilson Library Visit - Pop up exhibit featuring highlights from UNC’s collections.
2:45 PM-3:00 PM -- BREAK
3:00 PM-3:30 PM – UNC Wilson Library Visit - Join Steven Weiss for a presentation on UNC’s Southern Folklife Collection
3:30 PM-3:45 PM -- UNC Wilson Library Visit - Introduction to historic banjo music with Kristina Gaddy and Lee Bidgood
3:45 PM-4:30 PM – UNC Wilson Library Visit - Historically inspired banjo performance - The 2025 publication of the “Go Back and Fetch It” collection (Gaddy and Giddens, UNC Press) offers new opportunities for “Recovering Early Black Music in the Americans for Fiddle and Banjo” through study, reflection, and performance. This presentation brings the musical and contextual information in this collection into dialogue with western art musicians’ practices of historically-informed performance. What can we in the “String band” world learn from folks who focus on revival of music from the 17th and 18th century? What does a focus on people of color, and locales in the Caribbean and rural North American contexts bring to our understanding of and performance of music from what Lingold (2023) calls the moment of the “African Atlantic” at the intersection of colonialism, enslavement, and nation-building? The performing group includes East Tennessee State University faculty Roy Andrade and Lee Bidgood, as well as ETSU Bluegrass, Old-Time, and Roots Music Studies students Preston Alexander and Reid Warren.
4:30PM-5:00PM - UNC Wilson Library Visit - Open time to talk and explore the other galleries in the building before closing. There will be a large exhibit mounted in the building’s three galleries featuring the work of photographers Burk Uzzle and Roland L. Freeman.
5:00PM-7:30PM - DINNER/ DISPLAY TIME*
7:30PM-10:00PM - SOCIAL*/ Screening of Cece Conway's documentary on the 2005 Black Banjo Gathering
Friday, October 31, 2025
10:00 AM–10:45 AM - Hook and Line --The Thompson Music & Arts Festival - Michael Ananian will share with the banjo community the research, insights, music, and visual art inspired by Joe and Odell Thompson and “Hook and Line--The Thompson Music & Arts Heritage Festival.”
10:50 AM–11:35 AM - Josh Thomas's CooCoo and Black Horse Racing Traditions - Cece Conway - Josh Thomas's (1881–1970) crucial banjo track "Coo Coo," includes a 4-mile horse race in a rainstorm that has been clarified by the Smithsonian research. Josh’s song honors the legacy of the Black labor and skills that contributed to horse racing. Conway will provide a photo of Josh Thomas, bits of his important oral history, play his wonderful long and incredible banjo performance, explain how the new research clarified some of his challenging transcription of the words, and clarify his honoring of Blacks' contributions caring for, racing, and training Thoroughbreds– including Darley.
11:35 AM–2:00 PM - LUNCH/ DISPLAY TIME*
2:00 PM–3:30 PM - Reflections on the Black Banjo Gathering - Cece Conway, Sule Greg Wilson, Tony Thomas in conversation with Joseph Johnson - Twenty years since the Black Banjo Gathering, held in 2005 in Boone, North Carolina, the three organizers will discuss the event’s legacy and what the future holds for Black banjo research and playing.
3:30 PM–4:00 PM - BREAK/ DISPLAY TIME*
4:00 PM–4:30 PM - An Exploration and Appreciation of Eric Muller, Author of Mel Bay's Frailing the 5-String Banjo: An Instruction Manual - Chuck Levy - Eric Muller and Barbara Koehler’s Frailing the 5-String Banjo: An Instruction Manual, published in 1973, has had a large and lasting impact. More than half a century later, it is still in print and selling well. It deserves recognition as the first book dedicated solely to teaching clawhammer banjo technique in the modern era. The book includes a detailed breakdown of right-hand mechanics, as well as tasteful tune arrangements in calligraphic notation, chord shapes, source recordings, and photos of the Hammons family by Carl Fleischauer. It arose as a product of the folk and old-time music scene centered in Gainesville, Florida at the time. This presentation reviews the book and its genesis, and focuses on Muller, who is remembered as a remarkable musician, generous teacher and a colorful character. The presentation is based on interviews with those who knew Muller, including his co-author Barbara Koehler, his band mates, and students.
4:35 PM–5:20 PM - 25 Years After America’s Instrument - Phillip Gura and Jim Bollman in conversation with Daniel Wheeldon - Celebrating the 25th year of the book America’s Instrument: The Banjo in the 19th Century, authors Gura and Bollman will discuss how the book came to be, what they included in it, what their hopes were for it, and how it began to change banjo research.
6:00 PM–7:30 PM - DINNER/ DISPLAY TIME*
7:30 PM–8:15 PM - Mento: Banjo music from Jamaica - David Strickler - Mento is a folk-pop music style from Jamaica that predates reggae, rock-steady, and ska. Unlike those more familiar genres, mento music often includes a 4-string banjo. We will consider how the banjo returned to Jamaica and became incorporated into mento music. We will watch video clips of mento performers and briefly compare mento to other popular music forms from the Caribbean.
8:20 PM - SOCIAL/ DISPLAY TIME*/ Screening of "Don't Get Trouble in Your Mind: The Carolina Chocolate Drops' Story"
(On Friday night from 7-10pm, the Square Heels Square Dance Club hosts a dance a the Olin Binkley Baptist Church in Chapel Hill. Click here for more info.)
Saturday, November 1, 2025
10:00 AM–10:30 AM - How to Restore an 1850s Banjo to Playability - Robert Morrison - For the past 47 years, Morrison has located and restored 19th century banjos to playability for every decade from the 1850s to the 1890s. A few years ago, Morrison purchased an 1850s banjo and partnered with John Pringle, an internationally known luthier and viol maker to see if together we could bring the instrument back to playability without altering the originality of the banjo as possible.
10:35 AM–11:05AM - Survey of Tenor Banjos Created By Andrew Boarman - Isaac McCarthy - This ethnographic study documents the extent to which West Virginian luthier Andrew Boarman created tenor banjos. Tenor banjos are not conventionally used within bluegrass music, which Andrew Boarman was conventionally associated with. Boarman, specifically known for his renowned “Dixie Grand” line of 5-string banjos, has never been formally documented to make tenor banjos; as such, through both archival research and live interviews, this study documents the extent to which Boarman’s work creating these instruments can be identified. Through these methods, this study identified one tenor banjo and uncovered discrepancies linking Andrew Boarman to up to two other instruments, ultimately debunking the validity of such statements. This study concluded that the tenor banjo, originally constructed as a gift, was confirmed to be both constructed by Andrew Boarman and the only tenor banjo he ever made.
11:10AM - 12:10 PM - The Lew Snowden Banjo at the Smithsonian NMAAHC - Pete Ross, Howard Sacks, Judy Sacks, and Steven Lewis - Stephen Lewis of the National Museum of African American History and Culture recently acquired part of the Snowden family's collection, including Lew Snowden's banjo. Banjo maker Pete Ross will give a physical overview of the homemade instrument, possibly dating from the 1860s. Howard and Judy Sacks, authors of Way Up North in Dixie, will give a background on the Snowden family and Black music making in Ohio. Stephen will talk about the Smithsonian's acquisition of and plans for the collection.
12:10 PM–2:30 PM - LUNCH/ DISPLAY TIME*
2:30 PM–3:20 PM - Roots & Resonance: The Past, Present, and Future of North Carolina Banjo Building - Patrick Sawyer in Conversation with North Carolina Banjo Builders - Panelists will share personal stories, key influences, and the regional factors that led them to build where they build—whether that’s deep in the Blue Ridge or in revitalized urban workshops. Together, they’ll explore why North Carolina continues to nurture such a strong culture of banjo craftsmanship, from the legacy of early makers like Kyle Creed, Frank Proffitt, and others, to the support of local music communities, abundant native hardwoods, and the region’s deep respect for traditional Appalachian arts. The discussion will also address the challenges and opportunities facing small boutique builders and mid-scale manufacturers today, from supply chain and tooling innovations to workforce sustainability and growing global demand for handmade instruments. As the panelists reflect on North Carolina’s legacy, they’ll also share their visions for ensuring that banjo building remains a thriving, forward-looking tradition in the state.
3:25 PM–4:10 PM - The Gibson Mastertone, Lloyd Loar and the Creation of Carolina Bluegrass - Tony Williamson - In 1922, The Gibson Mandolin and Guitar Company issued the Mastertone Banjo, a quantum leap forward in instrument technology based on schematics drawn by Acoustic Engineer Lloyd Loar. Though intended for Jazz musicians and marketed as such by Gibson, additional improvements by Loar’s successor at Gibson, George Altermatt, caught the eyes and ears of country players who embraced the powerful sound. In particular, brilliant North Carolina musicians including Daner Johnson, Charlie Poole, Fletcher Henley, Snuffy Jenkins, and Mac Woolbright built on African American traditions to create a new, distinctive style. In Flint Hill, North Carolina, Earl Scruggs grew up absorbing these exciting sounds and took these innovations even further with a style The New York Times called “Folk Music in Overdrive.” With a priceless collection of original Mastertone Banjos from the 1920s and 1930s, including a 1922 TB-5 (the same model as Lloyd Loar’s personal banjo), and a 1929 gold-plated Gibson “flathead” formerly owned by Earl Scruggs himself, North Carolina Heritage Award Honoree Tony Williamson demonstrates not only the historical contributions of the Mastertone Banjo to Carolina music, but, with his performances, the evolution of sound and style that led to the most popular banjo music in history.
4:15 PM–4:45 PM - BREAK/ DISPLAY TIME*
4:45 PM–5:15 PM - A Remembrance of Hank Schwartz
5:20 PM–6:05 PM - Highlights from the Hank Schwartz Collection - Jim Bollman
6:00 PM–7:30 PM - DINNER*
7:30 PM–8:15 PM - The Black Banjo Reclamation Project - Hannah Mayree - This presentation will explore "he work of the BBRP and the ways that this musician/crafter relationship incorporates feminist, Black, indigenous and land based perspectives into the construction of the banjo, their study of the Haitian Banza, and the modern banjo to create instruments for Black communities while teaching the skills that are necessary to build and repair these instruments by hand.
8:15 PM–SOCIAL*
Sunday, November 2, 2025
10:00 AM–NOON - Clean Up
10:00 AM–1:00 PM - Brunch & Jam
*Throughout the event, participants can display, buy, trade, and sell banjos and banjo ephemera, or just hang out and look at and play all the banjos.
