Community To Honor 'Petaluma Pete' With Bench Dedication

PETALUMA, CA—In gratitude for his years of service to the community, the Petaluma Downtown Association will dedicate a public bench to Petaluma Pete—aka John Maher—at 10 a.m. Saturday at the intersection of Petaluma Boulevard and Water Street, outside Jupiter Foods.

Affixed to a bench previously built by Petaluma High School students, the honorarium plaque includes a headshot from the above photo and reads:

PETALUMA PETE
Historic Trestle Champion & Good Egg

Your ragtime piano licks will
forever echo through our streets.

2024

Mayor Kevin McDonnell will dedicate the bench with Petaluma Downtown Association Executive Director Marie McCusker and Greg Sabourin of The Floathouse, who will share a few words.

Petaluma Pete (Maher), who is relocating to Orange County to be closer to his adult children, will also attend. Staring in 2007 when he rolled his "Petaluma Pete" piano out onto the sidewalk, Maher used his gift of making music to help raise money for virtually every nonprofit in town.

While supporting a Petaluma River "Save the Trestle" nonprofit, Maher also acquired 30 pianos. He had them painted by local artists before and placed them all over town for citizens to share, resulting in free publicity for several nonprofits. When COVID hit, Maher moved the pianos to a warehouse but had his funding pulled out from under him, according to a GoFundMe page set up by Brenda Maher.

He then experienced severe shoulder damage, resulting in a complicated surgery, thus ending his piano-lifting days. Maher needed to hire a professional hauler at an average cost of $200 for each piano. He planned to pick up the instruments and donate the ones in good shape while taking the others to the landfill.

The campaign surpassed its $6,000 goal, garnering $6,250.

"Join Us For One Last Fond Farewell!"

The Petaluma Downtown Association thanked the following people and organizations for their contributions to making the project honoring "Petaluma Pete" happen:

• Bench Refurbishment: City of Petaluma
• Petaluma High School students
• Bench Installation: Rebuilding Together Petaluma
• Bench Location: Property owner Scott Newman
• Daniel Bleakney-Formby Jupiter Foods