The Corvallis pianos are back, and once again the Willamette Valley hills are alive with the sound of music.

Ten themed pianos will be located around the city of Corvallis, including the Beaver Believer located in the SEC Plaza, which was sponsored by Oregon State Credit Union.

These unique pianos will be placed around town from July 7th through July 23rd as part of Play Corvallis Play, a program run by Lee Eckroth.

All this is leading up to the annual Corvallis Imagination Music and Art Festival. The CIMA Festival is the culmination of an incredible effort on part of the community. This will mark the third year the festival has taken place.

Eckroth is a Real Estate agent for Town and Country Realty Group which sponsors the concert in partnership with CIMA. Four years ago Dave and Shelly Lundahl inaugurated Imagination Music and Art Inc., a nonprofit to raise awareness and funding for music and art education in public schools.

“In our public schools music and art education is not funded,” said Lundahl. “Kids can go through their entire K-12 experience without having received any art or music education.”

People from the local community donate their pianos. Many of the pianos were decorated by professional artists. Even the Lundahl family themselves have given life to one of the pianos. The piano at Market of Choice, affectionately called Fruits and Veggies, was painted by Lundahl’s kids.

The CIMA Festival is a two-day event and will start on Friday the 22nd . It will feature local bands and reach its peak on Saturday the 23rd when all ten pianos go on stage at the Bruce Starker Arts Park Amphitheater.

The festival is free to the public, and donations will help to see that the Lundahl’s vision becomes a reality. Last year the event took in $4500 for the cause.  

A Press Conference will be held July 15th at 6 PM at the baby grand piano on 1st and Madison.  A small concert will be included to exemplify the need for music and art education in public schools.