MASON CITY – If you like to play the piano but don’t have one – or just like to show off your musical talents – downtown Mason City may be just the place for you very soon.
The Mason City council will consider encroachment permits for the placement of up to four upright pianos in the downtown area at Tuesday’s regular council meeting. The project is a collaboration between the Mason City Chamber of Commerce and the Mason City Youth Task Force through a program called YIELD (Youth Investing Energy in Leadership Development.)
According to City Hall documents, four pianos and three piano benches have been secured are are temporarily stored in a warehouse owned by Kirk Johnson, where students are painting them.
The first two pianos would be placed 1) on the plaza in front of Rieman Music at 13 South Federal and 2) on the sidewalk on the west side of North Federal Avenue at the 300 block next to the Manor. Two more pianos are planned for 3) at the transit station south of City Hall and 4) at the Music Man Square entrance on South Penn Avenue.
The pianos would be brought inside by nearby business owners during inclement weather and fall and winter months. The pianos would be on dollies to help the moving process, and chained to benches so they couldn’t be moved or stolen.
Similar initiatives were also supposedly undertaken in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids.
All liability, maintenance, damage, removal and moving of the pianos shall be the responsibility of the Chamber of Commerce through the YIELD program.
City staff has already signed off on the project and is asking for council approval Tuesday.
How are people going to play the piano if they’re staying in their car fearful they will get raped, murdered or mugged up here on the…. NORTHEnd in the…. Cultural Crescent. I bet… Beermeyer and Robin Anderson will help keep the… “drug man” away from any… “Deal gone bad” How do ya like that, I used five of the NIT buzzwords that absolutely must be referenced in every story just in this one comment. lmao
Do these pianos come in at night? What about weather?
This idea has worked well in other communities. I have played the pianos in Iowa City and New York City. Seems so sad that some people have nothing positive to say. At least some are trying to improve the town. If we all made suggestions we could make Mason City a great town.
Stop. Did you just compare Cement City to IC and NYC? Please, if you have a caring fiber in your soul, I beg you, share some of what you are smoking with me and my homies.
I am certainly not comparing — I just had fun playing the piano and am so glad that a few people of trying to show that Mason City is not a backwater. I don’t use drugs but I do like a glass of wine with dinner and am very happy to support the restaurants in town — not just some but all. I have tried to be supportive of new businesses and I hope I don’t begin to agree with others who are only concerned that someone is making a dime. I want new businesses to succeed not fail.
Putting Pianos out in the open is a really spontaneous cool thing to do, however, it’s the setting that is the problem…not the idea. Mason City is full of right wing conservative christian trash who oppress people, abuse their children, snicker at their neighbors, and create treachery over others to keep them down, rather than help them up. It’s like putting lipstick on a pig. Essentially, many generations have to die off, and a neutron bomb needs to explode nearby…followed by a period of 100 years of dormancy and silence. Then maybe…MAYBE…some humans can come back into the region and begin anew. But as long as the same old players remain in town, with their hardened arterial sclerosis…Mason City and North Iowa will never experience a true spiritual and artistic renaissance. They are just trying to be coy…sucking up the Meredith Wilson theme. Don’t buy it. Keep Mason City the dark, dreary, dismal place that it is.
People just need to have fun. There is a song in there somewhere.
I have one to get rid of ( I mean donate)
Hey now the drunks will have something to do. We can have contests! Which booze hound plays the best version of chopstiks. They will come from miles around. Maybe our Otis Campbell mayor will give it a try. It’ll be like an old west saloon. I can’t wait!
You are on to something. MC could beat Britt as the hobo capitol of Iowa and hold the convention in central park. Plenty of trains comin through for the hobos to ride in on. Then to find out who the king is they all have to play piano. A hobo music fest for the ages. Scotty Pornquest can be the talent judge and Eric and can be the grand marshall. Robin can wait in a tent to consummate the coronation of the hobo king. Their offspring would be the first in a long hobo hereditary lineage. I simply pray to jesus the council approves this deal so the fun can begin this summer.
It goes on and on and on and on and on …..
I just wonder how long this will last. I love music and support anything musical, but a little common sense might be needed here.