Yesterday was the "Magnificent Pipes of Hanford" first-time Hanford
event showcasing its local pipe organs and various imported monkey
organs and a nifty style 105 Wurlitzer band organ.

The weather was perfect.  A wonderful lunch was catered in the 1924
Civic Auditorium where a local high school jazz band (they were darn
good!) alternated with several organs lining the walls of the Civic.
Nearly across the street, the group heard the recreated style 216
Wurlitzer theatre organ in the Hanford Fox Theatre, and next door,
the 1912 Möller church organ in First Presbyterian Church.  It is
the second oldest Möller west of the Mississippi River.

The various organs were played around the central park in Hanford onto
which the Fox Theatre, Presbyterian Church and Civic Auditorium face.
After lunch, the group of 221 walked to the nearby Episcopal Church
of the Savior to hear the original 1910 Murray M. Harris organ.  Buses
took the group a bit north to the First Christian Reformed Church to
hear the powerhouse 3/30 Möller/Estey/Heinz-57 church organ in there.
The event closed out about 5:30pm with a program on the small but
powerful 7-rank unit 1927 Wicks organ in First United Methodist Church.
After much restoration work, this was the first public event on this
organ in 12 years.

This was a great event, and hopefully even more band organ will show
for the next rally -- there is a good chance there will be another
organ rally in the future.

Tom DeLay
Salinas, California