Along with the usual talented banjo pickers and other musicians, this weekend’s Mount Airy Fiddlers Convention will feature something unique: a crew from the British Broadcasting Company in England.

The involvement by the BBC ties in with the old-time string music style that the local convention emphasizes along with the more modern bluegrass variety. The traditional mountain music has its roots in the Old Country, and was imported by early settlers to America where it continues to gain new appreciation.

BBC representatives are expected to arrive in town in time for a Thursday tour of local AM radio station facilities, which also keep the old-time traditional music alive worldwide through Internet broadcasts. The English visitors later will set up operations at the longtime convention site at Veterans Memorial Park for the musical competition, which begins Friday.

The Mount Airy Bluegrass and Old-Time Fiddlers Convention, now in its 38th year, will conclude Saturday with a daylong performance schedule.

“We’re expecting larger crowds than we had last year,” said Herb Joyce, a spokesman for the convention and one of those who will be serving as its master of ceremonies. That outlook is based on advance registration by musicians and bookings for camping facilities that cover 10 acres at the West Lebanon Street park.

“We’ve sold all the RV spots for complete hookups,” Joyce said of the 35 such sites available; the park also has camping spots served by electricity only. Campers began arriving earlier this week in anticipation of the weekend festival.

“More people are registering,” Joyce said of the musicians, who were required to register by May 26. “We’ve got twice as many registered for folk singing as we did last year.”

The competition schedule includes old-time and bluegrass bands, which will perform Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 6 p.m.; folk singing, set for 9:30 a.m. Saturday; bluegrass and old-time banjos and fiddles, whose practitioners will occupy the stage Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.; and guitar, mandolin, dobro, bass fiddle, dulcimer and autoharp, with competition slated Saturday from 2 to 5 p.m.

Youth dance contestants will perform Saturday beginning at 5:45 p.m. — just before the bands take the stage — with adult dancing scheduled after that.

Ribbons and cash prizes will be awarded to winners.

Also for youths, workshops for the fiddle, guitar and banjo will be held at the Andy Griffith Playhouse Thursday starting at 5:30 p.m., culminating with jam sessions at 7 and 7:30 p.m.

Along with the music onstage, convention-goers can encounter many impromptu performances around the Veterans Memorial Park grounds.

Those attending can bring lawn chairs or blankets.

General admission tickets at the park cost $5 each for Friday and Saturday, $10 for both days, with children 6 and younger admitted free with a paying adult. Concessions will be available.

New Shuttle Service

As a special new feature this year, the Downtown Business Association will operate a free trolley service between the convention site and downtown area from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Along with providing transportation to the central business district and back for visitors, it will aid those attending the fiddlers convention who wish to avoid parking congestion.

The service will run on an hourly schedule and include stops at the visitors center housed in the Greater Mount Airy Chamber of Commerce building on Main Street.

Contact Tom Joyce at tjoyce@mtairynews.com or at 719-1924.