When you go past the New York Wire Company you see a regular factory, but when you go there on Christmas Eve you hear a musical instrument that’s not even an instrument at all. This musical history started back in 1925 with a York music teacher named Karl Alex Smyser. Nobody knows why he was in the factory. All they know is that he was making music with a…steam whistle?! Yes, you heard me right, a steam whistle. Little did anyone guess that just playing with that whistle would start a York tradition.
Thirty years after this tradition started, Karl Smyser stepped down from the position to let Marlin L. Ryan and his son Donald E. Ryan takeover. Thirty-five years later Marlin Ryan retired and Donald Ryan took over the job along with his children. They have been performing the concerts ever since.
In 2010, the factory switched from using steam to compressed air for the concerts. The switch lowered the cost for the event with no noticeable effect on the performance. Their bills for the steam used to be $15,000 dollars, but since they switched to compressed air their bills went down to $1,200 dollars. That is some BIG savings!
There has been only two times in the past years that they’ve had to cancel concerts, both occasions due to boiler problems. On Christmas Eve of 2010 everyone thought it was going to be the York Factory Whistle Concert’s last year to ever play until Susquehanna Gateway Heritage Area signed an agreement to make a York Factory Whistle Concert Fund. Now, the concerts will keep going on for generations. If you want a new tradition for your family on Christmas Eve, I would recommend going to the New York Wire Company’s Whistle Concerts. The concert starts at 12:15 am on December 25th.
Here are two videos on the New York Wire Company. The first video is done by The York Dispatch. It gives you a behind the scenes on the Wire Company's concert. The second video is the New York Wire Company playing Frosty the Snowman. Hope you guys like them!:)
