For over ten years, my family and I attended the annual "Band Organ Rallies," as a member of the Mid-America Chapter of the Musical Box Society International. Some of the rallies we attended were held in Down town (Marietta, Ohio) - Genesses County Park, (Flint, Michigan) - Station Square (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) and County Fairgrounds (Medina Ohio,) to name a few.

The vacations my children remember fondly all relate to the excitement and people at these organ events.

When we attended, we would bring antique table organettes, I had restored, and show and play them for the public. The problem with playing table organetts is, due to their limited volume, you are stuck inside of a building, at a table, with very little foot traffic.

In 1992, I was lucky enough to find an antique barrel organ, the kind once used by organ grinders, and we became mobile. We were able to walk around the rally grounds where we could stop to play a while, then move to another area and play again. The kids enjoyed the mobility and always had fun cranking the various instruments our friends from the Society brought to the different rallies.

A very Young Thomas, Son of the Organ Grinder," plays the Monkey in this priceless image taken in Muscatine Iowa.

When the organ was bought, Thomas, my youngest son asked, "Dad, how come, when people ask about your monkey, you always say, "I Don't have a mokey, I have kids?" My quick response was "The monkey collects the money in a cup." Thomas then said "Oh - so that's my job"

The family took the instrument to a rally to play for the first time that year, When we got there, Thomas was distraught when he asked for his cup and was told one was not brought. We were unable to convince him to forget about the cup, so we went to a local antique shop and found him a tin cup for "his job."

All day during the rally Thomas scratched his side and shook his antique cup to collect the money. towards the end of the first day while doing his job he became distracted when asked by a lady if he wanted a dollar or a pack of cheese crackers. As any five year old would do, Thomas took the crackers.... So much for doing the job of money collecting.

Photo by: David Kennedy

St. Louis Post Dispatch, Thursday, October 17, 2002.

Nancy Levy (Left) of Louisville Ky., Takes a turn at cranking the barrel organ at the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Hurdy Gurdy Festival on Saturday. Gary Stevenson, (Center) of St. Louis explains the machinations inside the box, as David Leligdon looks on. Approximately 15 hand-cranked instruments were played at various spot around the garden.

"Cranking for a Cause"

(In Old Town St. Charles, Mo)

The St. Charles Visitors Center estimated that four-thousand (plus) visitors came and enjoyed these modern organ grinders at the rally. With their custom made "Tin Cups," the group collected nearly $500.00 for the Ronald McDonald House in St. Louis, these funds were handed over to their representative at the Mid-Am's banquet that night.(This image shows 16 of 25 instruments at the event.)

NOTICE, my red wheeled instrument cart just right of the center.