The projects places 35 pianos throughout the region, including five in Butler and Warren counties: the Fitton Center, Jungle Jim’s in Fairfield, the Oxford Community Arts Center, the Square at Union Centre in West Chester Twp., and the Mason/Deerfield Twp. Graeter’s.
Because the Fitton Center is located next to the Great Miami River, 16 youths who attended Fitton’s summer art camps painted and decorated the piano last month with a watery theme. They painted the piano a turquoise blue, and there are several water-related designs all around the instrument, including a kneeboarder and a boat dubbed the “S.S. Fitton.”
And the kids didn’t stop with the piano, a Story and Clark model. They also turned the bench into a treasure chest, filled with beads and replicas of doubloons.
“The kids loved it. They got to sign the side of it,” Fritsch said. About the only part left untouched was the pedals.
When a group of young children came through Fitton on a tour recently and saw the “treasure” in the bench, they asked “Is that real?” Fritsch said.
The piano prompted a number of other reactions. One of the men installing it outside did a double-take when he first saw it. Chris Phelps, a vice president of marketing for Cincinnati Public Radio ,said “Oh, it’s beautiful, I loved it. The kids did just a wonderful job.”
The goal of the project is simple: “We hope people will come and play it,” Phelps said.
Fitton’s piano is outside its front entrance, where Fritsch said it will remain until Sept. 17.
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2836 or erobinette@coxohio.com.
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