Tom Tolen / news@whmi.com

Sonorous musical tones could be heard emanating from the Imagination Station Playground in downtown Brighton Sunday, even carrying across to the other side of the popular Mill Pond.

A children’s outdoor music studio with the unconventional name “Mr. Wirth’s Millpond Music Studio” was unveiled and opened to the public, with accompanying speeches and shrieks of delight from fascinated children who tried out the instruments. Upwards of 200 parents and children attended the dedication of the children’s outdoor music studio.

Mr. Wirth’s Millpond Music Studio was appropriately dedicated to the late Al Wirth, who served his community for over two decades in various capacities such as the City Planning Commission, Downtown Development Authority and Zoning Board of Appeals, not including his years of volunteer work for the Brighton Area Schools. Coincidentally, Wirth lived only a stone’s throw from the playground, right on the Mill Pond, where his wife, Karen, continues to reside.

Karen Wirth summed up the occasion by saying, “To have this practically in our backyard it’s just a wonderful honor for me and my family. For these children to have these magical musical structures - it’s really, truly a great thing. Al loved children and would have loved that these children have an opportunity with all these musical instruments.”

Mary Beane, a Brighton Area Schools grade school teacher, spearheaded the effort that culminated in the outdoor studio. She says Wirth and her father, the late John Durbin, were close friends, and donations toward the studio were facilitated by the John J. Durbin Fine Arts Foundation. The non-profit corporation provides financial support for performing and visual arts projects in the area.

Beane expressed gratitude to Wirth for his value to the community. She said, "He brought the possibility to so many children who may not (otherwise) have had the opportunity to explore music through his volunteerism at Lindbom School, wherever he was needed in the community, and then all of the work he did with the Brighton High School Marching Band, meticulously painting the equipment bus and helping wherever he was needed.”

Beane says City Council Member Renee Pettengill, the city’s liaison to the Imagination Station, was extremely helpful in streamlining the process to facilitate the project.