By Neal Wong

On her first trip to San Francisco from Latvia, Agnese Dzenide walked into the San Francisco Botanical Garden expecting quiet paths and plants. While wandering she heard music playing. Dzenide had stumbled onto the final day of Flower Piano.

“It’s really nice,” Dzenide said. “It gives something unusual, something very good.”

Dzenide was one of thousands of visitors to the festival, which wrapped up on Sept. 20. For 11 days, 12 pianos scattered across the garden drew San Francisco locals, Bay Area residents, and tourists, who listened to music from scheduled professional performers and first-time players.

The festival began in 2015 when Mauro ffortissimo and Dean Mermell approached the SF Rec and Park department about placing pianos in Golden Gate Park. Mermell and ffortissimo had been putting pianos in unexpected outdoor locations since 2013.

Mermell said in a press release that amateurs regularly give the festival some of its best moments.

“Everyday superstars show up all the time, people who have never even performed in front of a live audience, and they are absolutely amazing musicians,” Mermell said.

Rob Carr, a software engineer who bikes to the garden from the Mission District, has been coming to Flower Piano for about a decade.

“If you’re a piano player, it’s like Christmas or something,” Carr said. “What else could be so beautiful as pianos in the garden?”

Carr, who played the Grateful Dead’s “Bird Song” for a crowd of close to 100 people in the Moon Viewing Garden on Sept. 12, said the crowds have grown since his first visit and organizers have gotten better at caring for the pianos.

“I don’t get scared anymore, but there’s some part of your body that gets a little excited,” Carr said. “You get a little goosebumps.”

Phillip Roliz, owner of Sunset Roasters, parked his truck at the festival for the third straight year. He had all kinds of customers during Flower Piano.

“Selfishly, as somebody who lives in the neighborhood, it feels like our secret gets shared, but that’s part of the beauty of San Francisco,” Roliz said.

On the second Sunday, he stepped away from the truck to enjoy the festival with his three children.

Another parent, Aniket Vaidya, brought his family from Fremont specifically for Flower Piano.

“My daughter is starting to learn the piano, so it is kind of giving her a chance to see other people play,” Vaidya said. “It’s a great event for kids to think about music, nature, flowers, plants, all together at one setting.”

Khaled Ramadan, owner of Sunrise Deli, worked in his food truck during the event. He contrasted the free festival with ticketed concerts that have recently been approved in the park.

“When you have free events that attract families, more folks that may not be able to afford hundreds of dollars worth of expensive concert tickets, they get to enjoy the park like everybody else,” Ramadan said. “More of that is always better.”