Piano in the Park: Community Spirit Lives!
By Sara Golling
About That Piano in Harry Lefevre Square:
Rossland has joined other cities such as New York; Seattle and surrounding communities in King County, Washington; Memphis, Tennessee; and Kelowna, BC in having a piano in the park.
The photo above shows a young Rossland girl experiencing a piano for the first time ever, thanks to that piano.
Rossland’s piano is the brainchild of Councillor John Greene, who was inspired by an item he heard on CBC Radio about a similar “piano in the park” in Kelowna. He investigated, found a website, and thought “We could do that here!” He put an ad on bhubble, seeking a free piano.
Irene Krewski donated the piano; Mike Kent and Kristen Wren of Youth Action Network (YAN), and their young artists, painted the piano to give it some pizzazz; Greene added a coat of spar varnish to make it more weather-resistant; John Rice helped with the transportation challenges; Greene paid to have the piano tuned; John Lake of XL Welding donated a donations-collection box so that anyone who feels like contributing to the costs of our piano in the park can do so; Speed Pro helped by donating a sign.
If there are contributions beyond the costs of tuning and otherwise maintaining the piano, Greene says they will be divided evenly between YAN and the Rossland Light Opera Society (RLOP).
The piano will remain out there for the public’s enjoyment until the snow flies, or until the weather becomes persistently wet. Then, it will be stored by YAN or the RLOP until fine weather sets in again and the piano gets tuned again, next year.
