Yes the Hurdy-Gurdies are still making beautiful music here at Hurdy-gurdy Crafters. And yes although my last post is 2 years old, much is the same. Mid July, we packed up our tent, booth stuff, and an assortment of instruments for our annual trip to The FunFest at Evart, Michigan and came away committed to be there again next year. Many new gurdy players are coming now including Michael Opp who gave a magnificent show at several evening Jam sessions. Mel, Michael, and Dave Smith did 3 songs on stage during open mike. While still a novelty at a Dulcimer festival, the Hurdy-gurdy is becoming an old friend to many at Evart. We made a new friend this year, Jim, who takes care of the venders including Hurdy-Gurdy Crafters and treated us very well! We missed Brian McCoy who was with us last year. Both he and Michael were great ambassadors giving demonstrations around the festival grounds.

At the end of July we hosted the meeting of the Michigan Violin Builders here at our home and shop. It was a time of teaching, sharing, and exploring some new ideas. Several of the violin luthiers were surprised to discover some commonalities between the instruments and Mel was delighted in their added insights on various aspects of building.

It still not too late to sign up for the Indiana Hurdy-Gurdy Workshop October 3-6, 2013.  More information at www.earlymusicinmotion.org. This is for amateurs and professionals alike. We have several instruments on the bench, two headed for their new owners at this workshop, so I have to get back to work.