ROCKLAND — Rockland Public Works Director Dave St. Laurent isn't one to let a refurbishable item go into that black hole of no return. So when resident Warren Perry called St. Laurent several months ago, asking how much the transfer station charged for disposal of an old church piano, St. Laurent envisioned a different outcome.

"I saw a program on TV called Pianos in the Parks, and basically this was modeled after that," St. Laurent said during the unveiling of the piano Thursday, Aug. 4. In the show, people rescue pianos, refurbish them, and put them out in the community for people to play.

St. Laurent called Nate Davis and Alexis Iammarino to help with the project.

Davis, known for his work with Steel House, Renew Rockland, and Tourmaline, also happens to be a classical pianist with a side hobby of fixing the inner mechanics of the instrument. He "rehabbed" this piano, as much as he could, before handing the project to Iammarino for the paint job. Iammarino is an artist whose murals can be seen at the Recreation Center, the Library, and on the side of a building on Oak Street.

Along the way, St. Laurent garnered permission from the city, as well as Gordon Page of the nonprofit Main Street Rockland, Inc., to have the first location of the roving piano be inside the gazebo at Central Park. This park is the little strip of green across from the Trade Winds parking lot, and is maintained by Susan Beebe.

"We want to put it out here for people to try out, have a little social experiment," St. Laurent said as Davis entertained the small audience with Schubert, Haydn, Bach, and jazz standards. After all, according to him, future pianists have to be exposed to the instrument somewhere. Let them come and feel the keys.

The location was originally going to be on the corner of Park and Main, "which is currently occupied by a lobster," he said in reference to the PETA demonstrator of the day before.

Though St. Laurent spearheaded the project, he is keeping a low profile.

"I didn't want to take too much credit for this. I really just wanted it to happen. I tend to find being low key is better. I want something to be positive," he said.

By the end of the short ceremony, Gordon Page and St. Laurent had already started discussing ways to coordinate mini concerts with the public and students of Midcoast Music Academy as well introducing the piano during Rockland’s First Friday Art Walks.

St. Laurent also salvaged the awnings that now hang over the recycling bins at the transfer station.

Sarah Thompson can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com.