Pianos pop up in Kelowna

Street pianos are popping up in New York, Vancouver – and now Kelowna.

Festivals Kelowna showed off five pianos on Thursday that will be placed in parks around the downtown. They'll be there for anyone to tickle the ivories, anytime they like.

"Pianos in Parks grew out of a video post to the Festivals Kelowna Facebook page that drew huge interest, comments, and enthusiasm," says executive director Renata Mills.

Mills and her team were short on time to make the pop-up pianos a reality, which is when a local busker took it upon herself to lay the groundwork and source out the pianos.

Keystone Music stepped in to help round up unwanted pianos and delivered them to Festival Kelowna, while Disney Interactive provided 15 artists to decorate three of them. This partnership kept the budget down to $5,000.

Elmer Epp of Keystone Music will provide maintenance to keep the pianos in tune over the summer.

“Fortunately I do live downtown, here, and I do ride my bike around here all the time. So I will riding by them very regularly and checking them and making sure they are good and playable and properly in tune so people can enjoy them."

Festivals Kelowna will place the pianos in active pedestrian spots, including the City Park tunnel, the Busk Stop near the Sails, along the lakefront at Jim Stuart Park, the south end of the Artwalk behind the Kelowna Law Courts, and on the sidewalk between the Rotary Centre for the Arts and Kelowna Art Gallery.

Mills says the hope is the pianos will provide an animate public space as well as become a temporary piece of public art.

“We are sure people will enjoy Pianos in Parks,” says Mills. “Everyone we spoke to about the concept either had a story about learning to play piano growing up, or were able to pick out a few notes on the pianos in our offices.”

The pianos are there for the playing now through the end of September.