Baby blue piano creating community connections in Kitchener’s Weber Park
Ben McBride plays the blue painted piano recently installed outdoors at Weber Park in Kitchener. Seated on the bench with him is his brother, Julian. With the boys are Laura McBride (their mom) and Frederick neighbourhood resident Jennifer Gordon. Along with neighbour Cristin Osborne, the two women painted the piano and installed it at the park after it was donated by another neighbour who couldn’t sell it.
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By Carrie DebroneKitchener Citizen
August 6, 2015
Weber Park in Kitchener is its own unique gem in the city – especially with the recent addition of a baby blue piano that is available for anyone to play outdoors anytime.
It is located under the overhang of the park’s storage shed facing Frederick Street near the intersection of Edna and Frederick.
Inspired by the ‘Play Me I’m Yours’ artwork project that has been touring internationally since 2008, three Central Frederick area neighbours, Jen Gordon, Laura McBride and Cristin Osborne painted and placed the piano there about six weeks ago.
Since then it has been a source of an abundance
of spontaneous music making.
“I’ve seen it played more often than not when I’ve
driven by. My son even went there and gave a little concert,” McBride said.
The ‘Play Me I’m Yours’ project by artist Luke Jerram has placed more than 600 pianos in 26 cities around the world including Toronto, New York and Sydney each bearing the simple invitation to play them. As part of the build up to the recent Toronto PAN AM Games, 41 pianos representing the 41 countries participating in the games, were located in public parks, streets and public squares for anyone to play and enjoy. A website has been set up to document each piano, and people can post their own videos, photos or comments when they visit them.
“I’m all about ‘happen upon’ moments. I really like those moments and I want to connect people to spaces, which is so critical for community development,” said Gordon.
Donated by a Frederick area neighbour, Martin Missio, who came up with the idea to put the piano in the park because he couldn’t sell it, McBride started fundraising to repair and paint the piano. The paint was donated by local hardware stores, and money from a City of Kitchener’s Healthy Inclusion Grants and from the Central Frederick Neighbourhood Association paid for repairs to the Bell brand piano that was built in Guelph in the late 1800s.
Another Frederick area resident, Will Horne, tuned if for free.
“We have so many musicians in our area and they really came through for us with this project,” McBride said.
“When we were installing it a guy was leaning on a nearby tree watching us. As soon as we left I saw him go to the piano and play it,” Gordon said.
“A lot of my friends sent me photos of their kids playing the piano. I think it will trigger other activity in the park and get more people to use the space,” she said.
Weber Park is located at 380 Frederick Street and includes a community garden, horseshoe pits, playground, outdoor tennis courts, sports field and an outdoor skating rink in winter.