Mountain Laurel Autoharp Gathering

10/28/2026

MLAG 2027
Registration Now Open

Happy Halloween Week, Harpers!

Amid all the “ghoulies and ghosties and long leggedy beasties and things that go ‘bump’ in the night,” real or imagined, we on the MLAG Board hope you will take a few minutes to distract yourself and make your plan to attend our 35th Gathering next June!

We are proud to tell you that REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN at www.mlag.org for our 2027 celebration of autoharping on the campus of Shippensburg (PA) University. With our new accommodations in the campus Courtyard Marriott, we will have the best of comforts, along with the fabulous facilities we have enjoyed in the campus student center and food court-style dining hall. We have been able to hold our registration fees and lodging & dining package costs to a very reasonable level, and we hope you will all go explore the registration pages at your earliest chance.

As we move forward with this exciting year, we know there will be questions to answer and new paths to navigate. Our fine registration team stands ready to help you at every turn, so that you will be all ready to join us the week of June 7, 2027, for our big 35th!

As a reminder, our featured performers tell the story of MLAG from the beginning to now, with Ivan Stiles, Bryan Bowers, Lucille Reilly, Cindy Harris & Friends, Wayne & Arthetta Long, and Kyle Burke, our 2026 Champion. We will have wonderful workshops and concerts from them and others, as well as three pre-gathering classes by Lucille, Ivan, and Cindy.

So go to www.mlag.org as soon as you can, hit the “Registration – In Person” tab at the top, and explore the possibilities. We plan to have a rollicking good time next June!

Scholarships are also available thanks to the Mary Lou Orthey Scholarship Fund. Find out more at https://mlag.org/special-programs/scholarship-program/.

Yours in music,

The MLAG Board of Directors:
Kathie Hollandsworth (Director), Rick Fitzgerald (Assistant Director), Coleen Walters (Secretary), Erina Fitzgerald (Treasurer), Jim Adams, Gregg Averett, Frank Baker, Pete Daigle, Maggie Dodd, Niels Jonker, Michael Poole, Deb Schreiber, Greg Schreiber, and Neal Walters

The Mountain Laurel Autoharp Gathering brings together autoharp enthusiasts from around the world for five days of workshops, concerts and ’round the clock music-making. Now in our 35th year, the Gathering features concerts and workshops from some of the folk world’s best musicians — and they ...

09/19/2026

Here's a link to Warren Fisher's formal obituary page in case you want to contribute flowers or comments there.

View Warren L. Fisher's complete obituary, share memories, and explore heartfelt tribute posts from the community.

09/18/2026

Another sad day in our autoharp community ... former MLAG Board Member, Warren Fisher, is gone.

Warren L. Fisher, 83, Selinsgrove

Warren Lewis Fisher died September 15, 2026. He was born August 10, 1943, son of James M. and Doris (Bair) Fisher of Williamsport, PA. Warren remembered bicycling from Poco Farm Road to pick strawberries in fields near the Susquehanna River, being a counselor at Boy Scout Camp Kline, and fishing in trout streams north of Williamsport.

After course work at Cornell University and work as a brick layer, Warren graduated from Lycoming College. In 1970, he married Ann Nussbaum Primrose. Warren earned his Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Connecticut in 1973.

Warren traded part-time teaching and brick laying while in graduate school for teaching economics at SUNY-Fredonia, 1972-1980. He worked in Washington, D.C. for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1980-1988. He then chaired the Economics Department at Susquehanna University for several years, building its faculty, expanding course offerings, and advising students. He retired in 2004 to pursue other interests.

Warren usually tied his own flies for fly fishing in Penns Creek and other local streams. He served as Secretary for the R.B. Winter chapter of Trout Unlimited for many years. Then he discovered fishing for salmon in the streams on Prince William Island, Alaska. He and Ann fished there each summer for 20 years.

He enjoyed learning to play musical instruments, particularly the upright bass, guitars, and autoharps. He was a member of the Frosty Valley Dulcimer Friends, Black Bear Crossing, and Susquehanna String Theory bands. This interest led to woodworking; he made about 50 autoharps. He and Ann went to music festivals; for about 15 years Warren served on the Board of Directors of the Mountain Laurel Autoharp Gathering.

Warren enjoyed time with his extended family, especially on the St. Lawrence River or in northern Wisconsin during summer vacations. He and Ann also traveled often with friends.

He was fond of nature and being outdoors. He and Ann had a home built in the woods so they could watch turkeys, turtles, hummingbirds--and the deer that browsed flowers and shrubs. He liked mowing lawn and cutting firewood in the summer—to feed the family room wood stove in winter.

Warren is survived by his wife Ann Fisher, his stepson Ross Primrose, his sister Janice (Art) Yingling, his sister Holly (TA) Keys, and 17 nieces and nephews on both sides of the family.

A memorial/remembrance event will be held at 11:00 am, Saturday October 17, Unitarian Universalist Church, 265 Point Township Road, Northumberland PA, with lunch about 12:30 pm. Attendees will be invited to share a tune, a fishing adventure, or comments about Warren.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association (https://www.middlesusquehannariverkeeper.org/) or Journey to Justice (https://journeytojustice23.com/).

09/02/2026

🚨 FINAL CALL FOR THE 2026 AUTOHARP CRUISE! 🚨

🎶 15 DAYS • 9 SEA DAYS • EUROPE • MUSIC • FRIENDS 🎶

Our December 5–20, 2026 Cultural Crossing from Rotterdam to Fort Lauderdale is approaching fast, and limited cabins are still available!
Imagine spending 15 days with fellow autoharp and music lovers while visiting:

🇧🇪 Brugge & Brussels
🇬🇧 Dover & Portland
🇫🇷 Cherbourg & Le Havre
🎄 European holiday markets
⚔️ WWII & Normandy historical sites
🪨 Stonehenge & more!

And, of course… jam sessions, 9 relaxing sea days, and plenty of time to enjoy the ship and each other's company. 🎵❤️

💰 Inside from $915 pp
🌊 Verandah from $1,127 pp
✨ Suites from $1,944 pp

Inventory is limited, so if you've been thinking about joining us, NOW is the time!

📞 678-300-1960
🌐 www.cruisewomen.com⁠�
👇 See the flyer below for all the details—and share this post with anyone who should be cruising with us! Friends and family welcome!

08/13/2026

The autoharp community lost another legend today with the passing of Cathy Britell. We will miss her and we find a way to appropriately honor her memory in the days to come. At this point, I thought I could at least provide some of our favorite MLAG memories through some pictures from our archive. There will be more to come!

08/07/2026

We've received the 2026 Mountain Laurel Contest CD from the replication plant and are packaging them for mailing to those who have ordered them. We did order a few extra copies so for anybody who is interested and hasn't already ordered, now's a good time. Order from the MLAG store if you want your copy.

07/26/2026

Coleen and I are roaming around rural New York on a mini-vacation of sorts but one item of business was to deliver the Autoharp Hall of Fame plaques for Alfred and Rudolf Dolge to the Dolgeville Mannheim Historical Society. There are no living relatives that we could find so the Historical Society was an obvious choice to receive and display the plaques. Many thanks to Sue Perkins, the Director of the Historical Society, for her informative tour of the building and to Lucille Reilly who did a lot of the research resulting in the induction of the Rudolf Dolge into the Autoharp Hall of Fame. Alfred was actually inducted in 2002 and Rudolf in 2026. You can read both proclamations on the MLAG Web Site (https://mlag.org/special-programs/autoharp-hall-of-fame-2/inductees/).

06/24/2026

Our 2026 festival is now in the books, and we’ve had a couple of weeks to recover and reflect. The Board wants to thank everyone who attended, either in person or virtually. It was truly an occasion to reconnect with music, remember those we’ve lost, and make new friends and memories.

I, for one, was struck by the sheer variety of autoharp styles and repertoire among our featured performers. There could not have been a wider range of playing on stage and screen, from Evo Bluestein, Jo Ann Smith, Mike Herr & Spinning Lily, Joel Mabus, Doug Pratt, and Eileen Kozloff. It really illustrated what can be done with our “little box of strings” in so many ways.

More congratulations are due to Kyle Burke, who won our 2026 MLAG Championship! If you haven’t yet ordered the Contest CD, there is still a bit of time to do. It’s available in the MLAG store. We’re hoping to fulfill orders for the CD earlier than in past years, but we won’t order too many extras so, if you want one, you need to act now.

If you attended MLAG in person, you will soon receive an email with a link to our 2026 evaluation form. We take all your ratings and opinions to heart, and endeavor to make each year’s festival better than the last.

Speaking of that, 2027 will be our 35th in-person MLAG!! We have lined up a slate of performers who, coincidentally and happily, make up a veritable timeline of our history. Ivan Stiles was one of the planners of the very first public MLAG; Bryan Bowers was one of the featured performers at the second festival; Lucille Reilly came on the scene in the ‘90s and is our only three-time champion; Cindy Harris joined our MLAG family and became a champ herself; Wayne and Arthetta Long joined friends here and have become a favorite duo; and of course Kyle Burke, our newest (and youngest) champion, will round out our MLAG “circle of life.”

THANK YOU once again for all your support and for helping us to achieve those successful years, and we look forward to our next reunion!
Yours in music,

Kathie Hollandsworth, MLAG Director
and our Board Members:
Jim Adams, Gregg Averett, Frank Baker, Pete Daigle, Maggie Dodd, Erina Fitzgerald, Rick Fitzgerald, Niels Jonker, Michael Poole, Deb Schreiber, Greg Schreiber, Coleen Walters, and Neal Walters

Mary Lou Orthey Scholarship Donation From: $1.00 Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page 2022 MLAG Contest CD Set $10.00 – $20.00Price range: $10.00 through $20.00 Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen ...

06/19/2026

Some leftovers from this year's MLAG ...

06/18/2026

Jamming at MLAG is, suffice to say, popular!