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Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Musician seeks to patent hurdy gurdy design
By SCOTT JORGENSEN
IVN Staff Writer
An O’Brien resident is in
the process of obtaining a
patent for a component for an
obscure musical instrument
that has been around for a
thousand years.
George Leverett and his
wife, Anwyn, started their
business, Altar Wind Music,
approximately 18 years ago.
Although they began making
lap dulcimers, they eventually
expanded their product line to
include harps, psalteries and
George Leverett, with a hurdy gurdy of his design.
(Photo by Scott Jorgensen, Illinois Valley News )
hurdy gurdys.
The focus of the business
during the past few years has
been the hurdy gurdys, which
are made by some 17 people
in the world; including three
in the United States.
Hurdy gurdys originated
in France; were used in
churches before organs came
along, and were quite popular
among street musicians. The
Leveretts have been making
hurdy gurdys for about a dec-
ade, and have sold them to
people in Canada, Australia,
France, Ireland, England,
Russia, Spain, South Korea,
Norway and Finland.
There are more than 90
moving parts on a hurdy
gurdy that need to be coordi-
nated just right, George
Leverett said.
Last May, he began ex-
perimenting with ways to ad-
just the action on hurdy gurdys.
Doing so would enable players
to change musical keys more
quickly and make it easier to
customize the instrument in
different climates, as the wood
in the hurdy gurdys can shrink
and swell with varying
amounts of humidity.
“It was an idea I had
been flirting with for a
while,” he said.
George developed a
wooden plate to solve the
problem and started adding it
as a standard feature to the
hurdy gurdys that he and An-
wyn make.
The Leveretts donated
one of their hurdy gurdys for
a festival held last May in
Great Britain. George said
that the organizers wrote
them and asked about the
wooden plate, because they
had never seen it in a hurdy
gurdy. At that point, he said,
he decided to seek a patent.
George filed for the pat-
ent in May. It’s an 18-month
process, he said, but is going
well so far.
As they go through the
patent process, the Leveretts
continue to seek ways to in-
novate the hurdy gurdy and
their other instruments.
“It feels like there’s room
for improvement,” observed
George.
In the meantime, the
Leveretts will perform at the
Scottish Games in Winston on
July 19, 20 and 21. On Feb.
27, the Northbrook Symphony
Orchestra in Chicago will use
one of their hurdy gurdys for a
special presentation.
“We’re super thrilled
about it,” George said.
(Full disclosure: IVN
News Editor Scott Jorgensen
is happily married to An-
wyn’s daughter, Annaka.)
Float Fly set July 10, 11 at Lake Selmac
The Rogue Valley Flyers
(RVF) and the Rogue Eagles,
the radio control flight clubs
of Josephine and Jackson
counties, are teaming up to
present the always popular
Lake Selmac Float Fly.
The free event is sched-
uled for Saturday and Sun-
day, July 10 and 11, from 9
a.m. through most of the
days, winds permitting.
A weekend of flying is in
store for visitors as the clubs
have invited pilots from through-
out Oregon and California.
Spectators will see a wide vari-
ety of aircraft and flying styles as
they take to the sky.
The RVF Float Fly has
been a popular event at Lake
Selmac for nearly 30 years.
The public can bring lawn
chairs, sit in the shade of the
surrounding trees and tilt
heads toward the clouds. Al-
though there is no admission
fee, Josephine County Parks
Dept. assesses a $2 per day
parking fee.
RVF has been serving
the radio control community
of Josephine County since
1972. Through a lease agree-
ment with the county the club
has its flight facility at the
Josephine Skypark in Kerby.
Additionally, the club has an
active youth program through
which young people can learn
the principles of flight leading
to an eventual solo flight.
Additional information
about the float fly is available
online; Google “Rogue Val-
ley Flyers.”
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*Apply at the IVCDO office - 201 Caves Hwy.
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541-592-4440
Pre se nt s
COM EDY N I GH T
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$ 7 c ove r
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5 4 1 -5 9 2 -5 1 1 1
Valley Girls getting ‘crazy’ with raffle quilt
Crazy things can be seen
around Cave Junction this
summer.
And right now, the crazy
creation is displayed at Ster-
ling Savings Bank at 110 N.
Redwood Hwy. in Down-
town Cave Junction.
It’s the colorful 2010
“Valley Girls Gone Crazy”
Quilt, created by the Valley
Girls Quilters.
This summer, the quilted,
embroidered and beaded
creation also will be dis-
played at several locations,
including local financial insti-
tutions, the Cave Junction
Second Friday Art Walk, the
Grants Pass Growers’ Market
and other public events. Raf-
fle tickets will be available at
Siskiyou Project
On Sunday, July 18 enjoy
cool mountain air on a leisurely
4-mile loop hike to lunch at
pristine Bigelow Lake with
panoramic vistas from Mount
Elijah.
Siskiyou Project ecologist
Rich Nawa will lead hikers
through flower-filled mead-
ows. Hikers will see the rare
and beautiful California Globe
Mallow.
This moderate hike has a
900-foot elevation gain. Car-
pool from Illinois Valley Visi-
tor Center in Cave Junction at
10 a.m. Bring lunch, snacks
and plenty of water. Phone
541-476-6648 for more infor-
mation.
each outing.
The jewel-toned quilt
will be raffled during the
group’s third annual quilt
show, set for Oct. 15 and 16
at Illinois Valley Senior Cen-
ter. The show will feature
never-before-seen quilts
made by Illinois Valley
quilters.
There also will be a dis-
play of “challenge quilts” that
will feature renditions of the
historic Holland Store on
Holland Loop in the Holland
district of Illinois Valley.
Proceeds from the show
Copyright©
PuzPuz Puzzles 2009
and raffle will benefit the
Illinois Valley Section of the
Boys & Girls Club, and the
Illinois Valley High School
Booster Club Track Project.
The Valley Girls is an
exceptionally informal group
that meets periodically to plan
and prepare for the annual
fund-raising show. And par-
ticipants always are looking
for extra help as well as local
quilters who would like to
show their own ‘never-
before-shown’ quilts.
Contact valleygirlsquilt-
show @ gmail.com.
Jacque Swift, assistant manager
of Sterling Savings Bank in
Cave Junction shows the ‘Valley
Girls Gone Crazy’ quilt currently
displayed at the bank.
(Photo provided)
Across
1. Masticate
4. Strong desire for
something
6. Entirely
8. Backing for plaster
10. Garland
11. Plant life
13. Blaring
14. Young sheep
16. Elementary parti-
cle
17. Boyfriend
21. Debut
23. Rod
25. Moving very fast
27. In the back
country
28. Bird of prey's nest
29. Set in
32. Egg cell
35. Soft-shell clam
38. Wharf
40. Enemy
41. Spiritual leader
43. Hen-peck
44. Assist
45. Mineral
46. Rarely
47. Monarch or em-
peror
Down
1. Go upward
2. Imp
3. Tree valued for
nuts and wood
4. Via
5. Tibia
6. Friend
7. Pasture
9. One of the digits
of the foot
12. Consumed
13. Bestower
15. Husky
18. A social insect
19. Mousse
20. Be indebted to
22. Flee
23. Erect (2 words)
24. One circuit of a
track
25. Envisioned
26. Ireful
27. Increase the
number of rotations
per minute
30. Sherbert
31. Saloon
33. Not of legal age
34. Inspire
35. Tender
36. Gentlewoman
37. Recede
39. A sense organ
42. Of a thing
Concrete
Remodel
New Construction
541-531-6220
Find the puzzle solutions on page 8
CCB 174891