NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (WIVB) – Shakespeare once said that when words fail, music speaks. Rosie Lorenti, a Niagara Falls native and musician, couldn’t agree more. Rosie shared with News 4, “Music is a very important part of my life. Brought up on it. My mom played piano, my dad played instruments. It’s always been something I’ve done.”

It’s always been something she hoped she could incorporate into others’ lives too. She’s doing that now by introducing the Niagara Falls public piano initiative.

The idea originally came from the streets of Buffalo. Lorenti said, “That used to be something my friends and I would do. We would drive out to Buffalo and find the pianos because it was free and it was fun.”

After a 5 year absence of the pianos in the Queen City, Lorenti started asking around on social media about them. She also mentioned bringing them to the Cataract City. People were not as thrilled as she was about the idea. She shared their reaction with News 4. She said, “People started commenting negatively saying that would never work in Niagara Falls. People would vandalize them or ruin them and destroy them. And that bothered me because I knew that wouldn’t happen. So I took it upon myself to find a way to make this work.”

The negativity was the push she needed. After only about 3 months of planning the pianos were out in 3 different areas around the city. The Niagara Falls visitor center, the art alley, and Old Falls Street are those spots. One other piano sits at the Niagara Arts and Cultural Center but is unable to be played because of water damage.

If you want to see them you’ve got about another month to do so before the weather turns and they are put away. Lorenti said, “They will be stored and fixed up and touched up with new paint, and hopefully we’ll have new pianos to add to this for next summer.”

To help get those new pianos, a GoFundMe page has been started. Rosie hopes with her $3,000.00 goal, 3 more pianos can be purchased along with the restoration of the ones she already has.