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aPril 9-15, 2015
Girl Scouts make benches for amusement company By SAM STITZER pennsvalley@centrecountygazette.com
CENTRE HALL — If your children enjoy Garbrick’s rides at the Grange Fair, you’ve probably noticed that there is no place for exhausted parents to rest while the kids ride. That problem has been solved by the nine members of Centre Hall Girl Scout Troop 4, led by Krista Winkelblech. The girls have constructed 10 wooden benches with steel supports and donated them to the Garbrick Amusements Company, which will use them this summer at many fairs and carnivals in the state. “The idea was to help the community by building these benches,” said Winkelblech. Winkelblech said the girls have been working on the project since October as a way to earn their Silver Awards. The benches were designed by Alan Stover and Brian Gavek, who are fathers of two of the Scouts. Most of the material for the benches was donated by local businesses. Stover said the bench supports came from the DuMor Company, which makes park benches and similar products. “A friend of mine works for DuMor, and he said someone ordered these legs, then never picked them up or paid for them, so they gave them to us,” he said. The sturdy, welded steel legs were then painted by Gavek with a glossy black weather-resistant
SAM STITZER/For the Gazette
TROOP 4 GIRL SCOUTS recently presented 10 benches they made to Garbrick Amusements. Pictured, front row, from left, are Henry Garbrick, Katie Gavek, Ella Smith, Sarah Zubler and Victoria Castellano. Back row, from left, are Danae Wolfhope, Kailen Winkelblech, Morgan Stover, Alaina McCloskey, Cate Goodwin and troop leader Krista Winkelblech. epoxy paint. Gavek’s garage, the headquarters for his company, Gavek Graphics, served as the workshop for the girls to make the benches. With help from parents and
other adults, the girls drilled holes for mounting bolts, painted wooden slats with multiple coats of exterior latex house paint, and assembled the benches during several evening work sessions.
The paint was donated by Weaver’s Store in Millheim. The Millheim Small Engine Shop donated more than 300 carriage bolts, washers and nuts for the project, and Lezzer Lumber gave
the troop a substantial discount on the lumber. Monetary donations were received from the Millheim and Centre Hall American Legion Posts, the Potters Mills VFW, the Centre Hall Women’s Club and Yarger’s Precision Machining. Winkelblech said that each of the nine girls made one bench with a helper, and the 10th bench was made by all the girls working together. Each bench is adorned with a small plaque bearing the name of the Girl Scout who made it. On March 29, the troop presented the benches to Henry Garbrick, of Garbrick Amusements, at the company’s shop on North Pennsylvania Avenue. The girls held a ceremonial ribboncutting to mark the occasion, then helped carry the benches into the facility. Following the presentation, the troop held a pizza and ice cream party at Trinity United Church of Christ in Centre Hall, where they were presented with wristbands good for free rides on Garbrick’s rides during the Grange Fair in August. Teri Statham, Garbrick’s daughter, presented a short history of the Garbrick Amusements Company. She noted that the company began manufacturing rides in Centre Hall in 1947, and that Garbrick’s rides were sold to customers all across America, and in many foreign countries. She thanked the members of Troop 4 for their great efforts in making and donating the benches.
Handbell festival coming to State College High School By SAM STITZER pennsvalley@centrecountygazette.com
STATE COLLEGE — The 22nd annual Nittany Valley Handbell Festival Concert will be held at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, April 11, at the State College Area High School North Building gymnasium. The festival is being hosted by the Westminster Handbell Ensemble from Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church in State College. Westminster Ensemble member Valerie Updegrove expects a large turnout of choirs from Pennsylvania and Maryland. “We’ll have 23 choirs with 240 ringers,” she said. The choirs will perform eight songs as a combined choir, with several choirs also performing solo numbers. There will be a $5 admission fee charged at the door for spectators. Guest conductor for the festival is Cathy Moklebust, of Eagle Grove, Iowa. Moklebust has developed and directed handbell music programs since 1983, and has played bells since her childhood. She is one of today’s most popular handbell music composers, with numerous published compositions and arrangements to her credit, many of them achieving bestseller status. She has received many prestigious awards for her work. A native of South Dakota, Moklebust earned a bachelor’s degree in music/percussion and a master’s degree in teacher education/music at South Dakota State University. She currently plays percussion with the
Karl L. King Municipal Band of Fort Dodge, Iowa. The Westminster Handbell Ensemble is directed by Gail Ritchey, who founded the group in 1978 and helped to originate the Nittany Valley Handbell Festival 22 years ago. “We are a five-octave choir, which requires 13 people,” she said. The ensemble features both bells and chimes. The chimes resemble tuning forks and help to produce a full, well-balanced sound. The group rehearses every Tuesday night, and plays one Sunday a month at Our Lady of Victory, as well as doing guest performances at many local churches. Their repertoire includes many hymns and some secular songs, such as Glenn Miller’s “Moonlight Serenade.” The ensemble features both male and female members ranging in age from teenagers to senior citizens, and representing several different church denominations. Westminster Ensemble member Anna Carol Buffington also directs a handbell choir at her home church, Grace Lutheran in State College. Some of the ringers play four bells each, with two in each hand, held at 90 degree angles to each other. “The bells are directional — they only ring when moved in one direction” explained choir member Ryan Ditmer. “You ring one with your hand in a vertical position, and the other with your hand held horizontal, like knocking on a door.” Ditmer, who is a church organist, describes himself as a “floater,” filling in on any bell
SAM STITZER/For the Gazette
THE WESTMINSTER HANDBELL ENSEMBLE, directed by Gail Ritchey, far right, is the host choir for the 22nd annual Nittany Valley Handbell Festival Concert. when someone is absent. “You need a full choir to play these songs,” he said. The ensemble’s largest bells sound tones as low as two octaves below middle C. Those bells measure more than a foot in diameter, and can weigh nearly 14 pounds.
The bells can also be played by striking them with mallets to produce a soft, staccato tone. Doug Piper has played the large bells with the Westminster Ensemble for 10 years. “The whole choir is like a piano, and each person is a key,” he said.
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