Photo by Peyton Neely Lacey Hopp, 3, of Columbus, and Regan Smith, 6, of Marietta, ride the merry-go-round together on the front lawn of the Armory on Friday evening.

MARIETTA — Despite stormy weather, Marietta residents and visitors flocked to the streets of downtown to enjoy the sounds of band organs while also getting some shopping in on Friday.

The 42nd Band Organ Rally started early Friday morning and it continues through today. Music Box Society International members brought their organs and although some couldn’t play due to the rainy weather, that didn’t stop the few that could.

Downtown Marietta was filled of sounds of music that brought back memories of circuses and merry-go-rounds.

No matter what part of downtown shoppers and visitors were in, including inside and outside of stores, their ears were filled with traditional songs played by the organs.

Mike Barnhart, 80, and his wife Liz Barnhart, 78, traveled a few hours from Dayton along with their hand-crafted Stinson Band Organ. The castle-themed organ played classics in front of Putnam Commons under shelter and away from the rain.

Photo by Peyton Neely Brian Thorton, 61, of Woodberry, Tenn., plays his Raffin hand-crank organ along Putnam Street.

“The first time we brought this organ anywhere was in 2003 to Marietta and we are happy to be back,” said Liz. “Dayton doesn’t have this downtown atmosphere that Marietta does. All they have are parking lots and banks. We are so excited to check out the wide variety of shops here in between shows.”

Their band organ was designed by Mike, based on a castle he saw in Trier, Germany, called the Porta Nigra Facade.

“We always play ‘At the Hop’ when we see little old ladies walk by because they remember that song from the 1920s,” said Liz.

Mike built their custom-designed castle organ from scratch. It was something that took him two years to do.

“When we load it into our van, all we have to do is take the two towers off and wheel it in with ramps,” he said. “Last weekend, we were in Ontario for an event and we didn’t even unpack the organ to come here this weekend.”

On the Armory lawn there were free carousel rides for everybody. Lacey Hopp, 3, of Columbus, was visiting her grandparents Lloyd Flowers, 61, and Bonnelle Flowers, 60, in Marietta this weekend. Hopp said she enjoyed riding the carousel with her grandmother, smiling as she rode up and down on a horse.

“We came to see all the organs and calliopes,” said Lloyd.

“It’s an awesome experience for everyone to see these,” Bonnelle added. “It’s an exciting time for both visitors and residents to see while meeting up with old friends and seeing all the really unique stores.”

Regan Smith, 6, of Marietta, enjoyed riding the carousel so much that she did it twice.

“My dad owns the Kassel Music store across the road and I knew the second I got Regan from camp today, I was going to bring her to ride this,” said Regan’s mother, Courtney Smith, 28, of Marietta. “This is also the first time for my other daughter to ride a carousel ever.”

Smith’s younger daughter is 9-month-old Ripley Smith. She didn’t seem to love the carousel so much, Smith said.

“Ripley seemed like she was getting dizzy but this is the first time they could do this together,” she said. “Regan will ride this thing as many times as I let her.”

Makenzie Jurin, 22, of Reno, and Kassey Wittekind, 23, of Reno, were shopping around on Friday. Talking about the Barnhart’s castle-themed organ, both Jurin and Wittekind agreed that it was very unique.

“I’ve never seen anything like that at all,” said Jurin.

Brian Thorton, 61, made a 10-hour drive from Woodberry, Tenn., to play his Raffin hand-crank organ.

“This organ is about 30 years old. It has 31 pipes and I’m happy I got to bring it to Marietta,” he said. “This is an unusual organ because we make the paper rolls that are played inside.”

The Band Organ Rally continues today beginning at 9 a.m. The rally concludes with a silent movie, Disney sing-a-long, and theater organ concert at the Peoples Bank Theatre at 7:30 p.m. today. For reservations and more information, call 740-371-5152.