COLD SPRING -- The St. Boniface Church in Cold Spring is in the middle of showing off its new organ - a work of art by a local master.

K.C. Marrin has been building organs for churches, universities and other institutions around the area for decades.

"A lot of people ask me, 'what else do you do?' - [I respond] 'well, this is what I do," Marrin says.

A graduate of the music program at St. John's University, Marrin's passion for music coupled with a love for working with his hands led to a 40-year career.

Marrin says his career started shortly after he graduated when he helped to restore an organ at a local church.

He says the hands-on experience taught him a lot of the know-how that is necessary in designing and constructing organs like the one at St. Boniface.

The St. Boniface organ, which stands 26 feet tall and weighs roughly 10 tons, took Marrin about five years to build.

"It's a wonderful sense of accomplishment that you have when you're able to build something of this scale," Marrin says.

Marrin says that the organ features much of the same technology and engineering characteristics that organs had 500 years ago.

The organ has almost 3,000 pipes and is built in such a way that a person can enter the instrument and climb into its three levels in order to do some repair work.

"[It's] a sizable organ, it's larger than most parishes have," Marrin says.

"This type of organ can easily last 100-200 years."

The possibility of an instrument that he built lasting for centuries is not lost on Marrin.

"That gives me some satisfaction - that it can be here for a long time and [the people] won't remember me, but they'll have the instrument here," Marrin says.

"And it should bring a lot of joy to the community - at least I hope so."

St. Boniface is holding its last in a series of recitals with the organ on November 9th.

Photo by Isaac Schweer, WJON
Photo by Isaac Schweer, WJON
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