The blue piano of downtown Kamloops silenced by vandal

KAMLOOPS – The blue public piano in downtown Kamloops has gone silent after a vandal destroyed it this week.

Members of the Downtown Kamloops Association are looking for someone to remove the city’s blue piano after it was destroyed yesterday, July 2.

Jackie Rechenmacher, a team leader with the association says members witnessed a man break several hammers within the piano. Now 13 keys don’t make a sound.

Western Canada Theatre donated the instrument to the group last year, which decided to put in the downtown core on Victoria Street for the public to interact with.

“It’s sad to see the piano go. It felt like a family member had been lost,” Rechenmacher says.

She adds her co-workers asked the man to stop destroying the piece but by the time he stopped the damage was done. The incident was reported to the Kamloops RCMP.

“We’re looking to dispose of it, we’re kind of unsure what to do,” she says. “Unless someone wanted to fix a broken piano."

The group hopes to replace the vandalized piano as most people used it to have impromptu sing-alongs on the sidewalk and would use chalk to write words of wisdom on the painted wood.

“It was an unfortunate incident,” Rechenmacher says.

She adds Downtown Kamloops would like to hear from the public about their time with the piano. To share a memory, call 250-372-3242 or send a note to the group’s contact page online.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Glynn Brothen at gbrothen@infonews.ca, or call 250-319-7494. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.