Whistlers Unite

Whistle a happy tune, whistle a passage from Beethoven - it doesn’t matter what at the 27th annual International Whistlers Convention, just pucker your lips and blow. Actually, you don’t even have to blow. “We have some whistlers who whistle entirely by whistling in. No air goes out,” said Allen deHart, the convention founder. The competition began today and winners will be announced Saturday. Barry Rector, of Vancouver, Canada, (shown above) demonstrated a unique style of whistling at a class he taught at the convention. Rector, a judge, said whistling isn’t as popular a commercial art as it was 100 years ago. The contest began in 1974 and once there were hundreds of contestants, but this year there will be between 60 and 100 finalists.