By Bob Bumcrot

Norfolk resident John Allyn has played trumpet for most of his life. On December 4, 2011 he realized a dream when, along with four other trumpet players and about fifteen enthusiastic hikers and bikers, he ascended Haystack Mountain Tower with instruments, sheet music and stands.

As the Sunday bells of the Church of Christ Congregational struck three, the brass orchestra, struggling with windblown sheets of music, began to play. Songs performed included Silent Night, Angels We Have Heard on High and a few other favorites. A small, cheerfully expectant crowd of about twenty people waited along the stone wall above Town Meadow, across from the bank.

But alas, the fickle wind overpowered the brave musicians. Fortunately, Richard Johnston, who was in contact with the group by cell phone, put his phone on speaker mode and the spectators heard several tunes, albeit faintly. Several of the more athletic onlookers rushed to the foot of the mountain in an attempt to pick up the sound, but no luck there either. A less agile observer asked two ladies who were decorating the Meadowbrook gazebo if they had heard anything, but again, no. Clearly the wind, not the distance from the tower, was the obstacle. On an earlier test play by Allyn, he was heard clearly by Johnston’s wife, Chris Hanley, from her yard on Terrace View.

Apparently the players, John Allyn, along with student musicians Sarah Allyn, Meredith Torrey and Sam Hester from Norfolk, and Talia Michaud of New Hartford, enjoyed the outing, but Allyn is not sure yet whether or where they will try again this December. “We wouldn’t want to just play at some nearby spot, like the church steps,” he said. Other sites are at least tentatively under consideration. Perhaps a little encouragement and suggestions from townspeople could help turn this brave undertaking into a local tradition.