Library foundation buys instruments for Cody park

Posted 8/6/19

After plans to install some musical instruments outside the Cody library fell through, the Park County Library Foundation opted to put them at a city park instead.

Earlier this year, a collection …

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Library foundation buys instruments for Cody park

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After plans to install some musical instruments outside the Cody library fell through, the Park County Library Foundation opted to put them at a city park instead.

Earlier this year, a collection of six instruments was installed at Cody City Park. The “perfectly tuned sound sculptures” from manufacturer Freenotes Harmony Park range from xylophones to chimes. They’re built to have “no wrong notes,” so that the sound is pleasing to listeners, regardless of how someone plays them.

“We recommend you go down and bang on the instruments,” Park County Library Foundation board member John Gordnier told county commissioners on Tuesday.

Nikki Brew, the chair of the private, nonprofit library foundation, spearheaded the effort and helped raise roughly $33,000 to make it a reality.

“It cost neither the city nor the county a dime,” Gordnier noted.

Foundation leaders had initially proposed putting the instruments in an area outside the Park County Library’s children’s department. However, that site was later ruled out, in part because of concerns that the noise would disrupt the tenants who rent space above the Cody library in the Park County Complex.

During a May 21 meeting, commissioners Lee Livingston and Joe Tilden had wondered why the foundation opted to continue the project at City Park, noting it was no longer related to the library system.

“... I thought it was quite odd,” Tilden said then.

On Tuesday, Commission Chairman Jake Fulkerson put the question to Gordnier, saying he’d heard from a member of the public who was “curious how musical instruments at the park benefitted the library structure.”

Gordnier said that, although the instruments were moved to a new location, it continued to be about kids and music in a public place.

“This seemed to us to be a logical contribution for the children of Cody, for the visitors in the city of Cody, and we thought it was an appropriate use of the library foundation’s reaching out to show the community how much we’ve appreciated their support over time,” Gordnier explained.

He described the public instruments as also fitting into a broader effort to bring people to Cody and its City Park with music and other art.

Meanwhile, instead of instruments, the Park County Library Foundation provided a natural playspace outside the Cody children’s library. That equipment also was recently installed.

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