The Beginning
In 1970, Allen de Hart, director of public affairs at Louisburg College, Louisburg, North Carolina, founded the Franklin County and Louisburg College Folk Festival. The annual Festival emphasized the traditional music and dance and heritage arts and crafts of the southeastern states. It was held in the Louisburg College Auditorium.
Professional performers and competition for amateurs, were part of the Festival, which became national in scope in 1973. In 1974, Darrell Williams from Durham, North Carolina, requested to whistle his original composition of “Little River Blues” rather than sing it. The judges accepted it in a solo vocal category. It was the beginning of what developed into the National Whistlers Convention.
After Williams won again in 1975, de Hart organized and directed a separate whistling festival within the main festival. Instead of it being on stage nightly (which was usually the last Friday and Saturday of each March) with the folk music and dance program, it was scheduled outdoors on Saturday afternoon as the Whistling Contest of the Festival.
Jack Lewis of Raleigh won the championship in 1976 and Bob Winslow of Little Rock, Arkansas, won in 1977 (He was the contest delegate to the Whistle-Off in Carson City, but did not attend). Arnie Solomon of New York City won in 1978. Pat Morgan of Lexington, North Carolina, won in 1979, but Eric Vernon agreed to be the delegate to the Carson City International Whistle-Off. The Raleigh News and Observer reported that Morgan (who imitated a horse whistle among her selections) “won with a whinny.” Bobby Brandon of Wilmington, North Carolina won the championship in 1980 to the cheers of an increasingly large outdoor audience on the west campus of Louisburg College; Maury York of Greenville, North Carolina, won in the classical category. With an expanded program and increased public audience, the College requested the Whistling Contest find a new sponsor.
Convention and Museum
The Franklin County Arts Council, Inc., also founded by Allen de Hart in 1978, accepted the sponsorship of the Whistling Contest. De Hart and the Arts Council changed the name to the National Whistlers Convention (NWC) in the summer of 1980, and the Arts Council opened its official headquarters in downtown Louisburg at 109 North Main Street, the office of the Council’s attorney, Parker Lumpkin. |
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De Hart had also founded the National Whistlers Museum in 1975; the museum title and the convention title were trademarked by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Washington, D.C. (Numbers 121127 and 1212025). The Museum maintains a collection of rare and significant recordings, books and magazines, photographs, news articles, souvenirs and whistles.
By 1981, the Council began to invite distinguished guest whistlers to conduct seminars and workshops in the public schools and to perform in special public performances at the Convention. In 1982 they were Jason Serinus, San Francisco, California; Fred Newman, New York City; Carlin Morton, Fort Myers Beach, Florida; and Maury York, Greenville, North Carolina.
In 1981 and 1982, Tobe Sherrill, a commercial design student from Greensboro, North Carolina, won the grand championship at the Convention held in the Franklin County Courthouse, downtown Louisburg. He was the Convention delegate to the International Whistle-Off. National media coverage (wire service and networks) also increased during this period. Marge Carlson, Fullerton, California, was among the guests of honor in 1982. Others were Fred Newman, New York City; and Carlin Morton, Fort Myers Beach, Florida.
Growth and Expansion
In 1983, the schedule of events expanded from a two-day program to four days, April 13-16, increasing exposure to the school children and special population. Media coverage included all the wire services, NBC and CBS TV media, and a special taping of material for CBS’s On the Road with Charles Kuralt for the summer of 1983. By now the Convention had expanded its seminars, workshop, concerts, contest, street fairs, mercantile displays, street dancing, heritage arts and crafts, and historical displays. The Whistle Collectors Society was formed this year to provide a time and place for collectors to meet and share their mutual interest. The council nominated Carlin Morton, the “World’s Champion Whistle Collector” from Fort Myers Beach, Florida, for the first member. The 1983 guests of honor were Roy Thoreson, Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Carlin Morton Fort Myer Beach, Florida; Irving Cohen, Oakland, California; Lillian Williams, Clarksville, Arkansas; Fred Newman, New York City; Tobe Sherrill, Greensboro, North Carolina; Neil Wyric, Miami, Florida; and Samuel Brylawski, Washington, D.C. |
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