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It’s Puzzling

By Staff | Feb 17, 2017

Chronicle photo by Adam Oester The puzzle depicting Shepherdstown is available for sale at various locations.

A 1000-piece puzzle consisting of 136 photos of Shepherdstown has been created to show the historic architecture of the town. In an intersting parallel, the puzzle itself has also garnered its own history in how it was developed.

In the past, an annual scavenger hunt fundraiser was done throughout the town. To advertise the scavenger hunt in a unique way, the Historic Landmark Commission created a poster. The poster has now been turned into a puzzle that continues to celebrate the history of Shepherdstown.

Jay Hurley, a member of the Historic Landmark Commission who had the idea of the poster as well as the hunt itself, originally wanted to show the architectural integrity of Shepherdstown.

“I took a lot of inspiration from an art piece I saw in Ireland named Doors of Dublin,” said Jay. “It is literally just a piece of art that has a bunch of historic doors of houses. It’s simple, but it shows the history of the town, and that’s what I wanted to do here.”

With Hurley’s blessing the Shepherdstown Visitor Center was then able to take the idea and turn into a puzzle.

Marianne Davis, director of the Visitor Center, said, “We chose the design of the poster because we really wanted to bring something interesting to both the residents of the town, and those that don’t live here. However, this is only the first of many puzzles we plan on making. There are so many historic landmarks and buildings in Shepherdstown and we want to show them all.”

Hurley has a completed version of the puzzle, as well as the inspirational poster, on display at O’Hurleys General Store in town.

The puzzle is currently for sale at participating shops and restaurants around town, as well as at the Visitors center located at 129 East German Street.

It’s Puzzling

By Staff | Feb 17, 2017

Chronicle photo by Toni Milbourne The puzzle above was the choice for last year’s FOM fundraiser.

The Friends of Music will host their second annual “Puzzle Mania” jigsaw puzzle competition in Shepherdstown the afternoon of Sunday, Feb. 26. The event serves as a fundraiser for the Friends and its Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra.

The event last year drew dozens of folks who spent a few hours on a Sunday afternoon enjoying each other’s company and frantically trying to beat their neighbors to get a puzzle together. There were many techniques used including sorting pieces by color, pooling the outside edge pieces or randomly starting with whatever pieces were pulled out of the box first.

However one got started, the event drew laughter, especially with some of the handicaps placed on teams by their opponents. By donating a few extra dollars, one could purchase the right to make others use oven mitts to put their pieces together, among other crazy things to hamper productivity.

The fun will be back this year, but in a different location.

Heather Marshall, one of the event organizers, indicated the event will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Shepherd University Wellness Center on the West Campus.

“It’s a much larger location, with good lighting and lots of parking,” Marshall said.

The jigsaw puzzle competition will consist of 25 teams of four persons each. Each team will start with the same 500-piece puzzle and vie with all the other teams to complete the puzzle first. The winning team will be honored with a trophy.

Participants must recruit their own four-person teams from friends, neighbors or family members. The fee to participate will be $100 per team. Organizations and businesses may sponsor teams if they wish.

This is intended as a fun, light-hearted event. It will be family-friendly, and children 10 and older will be welcome to join as team members.

Light refreshments will be served.

Tickets can be purchased on the Friends of Music website at www.friendswv.org. For more information, contact Alice Barkus at 304-876-8520 or abarkus@frontiernet.net.

The Friends of Music is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1999 to support and promote musical excellence. It supports the Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra, the only professional chamber orchestra in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. Full information about the Friends and the Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra is available on the Friends website.