A trail with music By Christy Cooke, Freenotes Harmony Park
town area taking people from one percussive instrument to another.
B These beautiful sounding musical instruments are like
none other. They are permanently installed outdoors, never require tuning, and they insure a player’s success from the very first note regardless of musical training. Sounds impos- sible— but it’s true.
enefitting the local community of Buffalo, Minnesota, the Buffalo Rotary Music Trail winds along a lake adjacent to the down-
biggest challenge was to raise the funds necessary to make it real.” Starting with a goal of nine instruments and a $35,000 budget, the club exceeded its target in half a year’s time. Now 11 instruments are along Buffalo Lake in Sturges Park. The Music Trail became a community-wide effort with monetary donations from private citizens. Contributions from the local government included the city donating the installation of the instruments, and approval by the Parks and Recreation Board for the use of Sturges Park. What put the Buffalo Rotary over the top was a substantial contribu- tion from the Minnesota Legacy Fund. The Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund receives 19.75% of
the sales tax revenue from the Legacy Fund. Based on cur- rent revenue, Minnesotans will invest more than $1.2 billion in arts and cultural heritage fund projects and programs over the 25-year life of the tax. A portion of these dollars are being made available through grant programs. The instruments were created by Richard Cooke, Grammy award winning musician and founder of Freenotes Harmony Park. “Creating beautiful music is not reserved for highly trained musicians— it is available to everyone,” Richard said. “The joy of creating music is so strong that I believe if most people could have that ability themselves their lives and society itself could be changed for the better.”
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“Adding a musical element to the trail engages people in a unique way, making them happy by connecting them with themselves and others in nature,” said Camille Calderaro of Fireflies Play Environments, the company responsible for the inclusion of the musical instruments in the trail project. This park trail now connects the downtown area to the lake. It brought the community together in a hugely successful fund- raising effort both cooperative and philanthropic and it con- tinues to bring people together in spontaneous creative play. It all came about from the Buffalo Rotary Club wanting to do something to better the community. The lakeside became a great free space that was underused. According to the President of the Buffalo Rotary, Warren Stoltman, “The
32 NEW YEARS 2015
AmericanTrails.org
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