A 1,200-pound community Christmas present arrived Thursday at the Goss Opera House in the form of a concert grand piano. A crew from Dial-a-Move relocated the 1927 Knabe piano from Steve Misener’s shop in Stockholm to the stage in the Reliabank Theater. The piano has a long history in Watertown and the Friends of the Goss Opera House commissioned Misener to do a complete restoration about 10 months ago. The piano was owned by Leon and Vernola Jelinek, a concert pianist who lived in Watertown during his later years. The Watertown School District bought the piano from the Jelinek estate in 1965 and sold it in 2005 when it was located at Lake Area Technical College. The restoration cost about $16,000 and was funded by a generous grant from the Watertown Area Community Foundation and a small number of private donors. The piano will permanently reside on the stage at the Goss. An existing baby grand piano that was on the stage was moved to the third floor Prairie Lakes landing.
