A Ludwig piano, no longer upright, adds an unexpected touch of culture to the Irasburg landscape. Why and how it came rest on its back in Omer Bousquet’s driveway is a complicated tale. Photos by Joseph GresserIRASBURG — Not everything that starts out for the fair arrives at the fair.  Omer Bousquet discovered that sad truth Saturday morning when, full of the a desire to benefit his town, he and his friend Justin Tarmey set out to bring a piano to auction.

The piano had been in his house for years, but he recently bought a 1947 jukebox and there just wasn’t room for that much music in his house.

“I tried to give the piano away, “ Mr. Bousquet said Saturday afternoon through the clear lens of hindsight.  “Some people were interested, Parker Pie looked at it, but no one wants to move a piano.”

So Mr. Bousquet decided to donate the instrument to the Irasburg Church Fair auction.

The first step seemed obvious, and Mr. Bousquet backed his truck up to the back of his house, which is situated so that a piano could easily be slid out the door onto the bed of the truck.   But he and Mr. Tarmey got the first inkling that this would not be so simple an undertaking.

After a number of attempts the men discovered that the back staircase was in a position that made passage of a large object, such as a piano, impossible.

“Justin said this isn’t going to work,” Mr. Bousquet recalled.

The men knew the piano would fit comfortably through the front door, but they also were all too well aware that they would need to carry it down 15 steps The piano lies on its back in Omer Bousquet’s driveway. In order to get it into the pickup from which it fell, Mr. Bousquet and Justin Tarmey had to manhandle it down the 15 steps from his front porch. to get it to the truck.

Mr. Bousquet said he got a long piece of two-by-ten and nailed it to the stairs.  He knew there would be a lot of spring in the plank, so he propped it up with a chunk of firewood to hold it steady.  Then the men began to slide the piano down to the truck.

It was no problem to move the instrument through the house, Mr. Bousquet said.  It was mounted on large wheels.  They got it to the top of the slide and started it on its way down to the truck.

Almost immediately they realized that a piano is not an evenly balanced object.  It began to tip and the two men used every muscle to keep it from falling, Mr. Bousquet said.  They finally pushed it back upright.

At this point gravity lent a hand and the piano picked up speed.  Now the men had to exert every fiber of their being to hold the piano back.  Mr. Bousquet said he braced himself against the truck and pushed.

Their efforts were successful and the piano came to rest safely in the bed of the truck.

“We think, who we are — two guys.  We loaded this piano.  Beautiful!” Mr. Bousquet said.  “My wife is going to be happy, it’s a good day in Irasburg.”

Mr. Bousquet confessed that he and Mr. Tarmey had a drink in celebration.  He made it clear that they didn’t get drunk, but felt the need to acknowledge their accomplishment.

After a brief break, Mr. Bousquet said, he looked over the piano.  “I knew it was topheavy,” he said, “so I got a rope and tied it down.  I shook it and it seemed pretty decent.”

Omer Bousquet (left) and Justin Tarmey stand proud, knowing they tried to help their community. The men got in the truck and headed down the drive to Irasburg and the fair.  Mr. Bousquet said he couldn’t have been doing more than five miles an hour when he hit a pothole.

“I saw it tip.  When it went back the other way the ropes broke,” Mr. Bousquet said.

The piano tumbled out and fell on its back.  Mr. Bousquet and Mr. Tarmey looked at the instrument and realized the only thing to do was to head on down the road to the fair.

The tale quickly spread around the green, helped in great measure by Mr. Bousquet’s wife, Donna, who was doing land office business painting children’s faces and sharing her account of the musical tragedy.

Mr. Bousquet was philosophical.  “You can’t do something like this in Irasburg and get away with it,” he said.  He said he expects his friends will never allow him to live it down.

He consoled himself with the knowledge that he was working for the best interests of his town.  “We did try.  There’s an effort there, a lot of effort,” Mr. Bousquet said.

Mr. Tarmey chimed in, “A for effort.”

In the aftermath of “the day the piano didn’t make it to the fair,” the instrument remained in the middle of the Bousquet’s drive.  Mr. Bousquet said he is thinking of getting a burn permit.