Editing Weiser, Idaho (section)

==Culture==
Weiser bills itself as the "Fiddling Capital of the World" and the [[National Oldtime Fiddlers' Contest]] has been held each year since 1953.  Fiddling contests have been held in Weiser since 1914, but the present festival was the idea of [[Blaine Stubblefield]], a fiddler and folk music collector, and the head of the city's [[chamber of commerce]].<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.fiddlecontest.com/History.php | title = History of Fiddling, Fiddle Contests and the National Oldtime Fiddlers' Contest | publisher = National Oldtime Fiddlers' Contest & Festival, Weiser, Idaho | access-date = 2010-05-18 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100806154829/http://www.fiddlecontest.com/History.php | archive-date = 2010-08-06 }}</ref>  The festival is held at the beginning of summer, during the third full week in June, the only exception occurring during leap years when it is held on the 4th week of the month.  It draws national media coverage and over 7,000 people to the Weiser area.

The city has been consistently served by the Weiser Signal-American, the local weekly newspaper.

For many years Weiser's location as the last city upriver from  [[Hells Canyon]] made it the jump-off point for wilderness tours by powered rubber raft down the gorge.  Enormous sturgeon and plentiful salmon were a draw for anglers.  The salmon runs ended not long after the float tours with the blocking of the river by three hydro-power dams built by [[Idaho Power Company]] starting in the 1950s.