Wood Dale parks throws surprise party for 'The Harmonica Man'
Arild Egeland worried what people would say last year when he brought his 89-year-old father, Karsten, to the Wood Dale Park District for the first time.
Karsten, an Elmhurst man who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, insisted he wanted to play his harmonica while exercising on the park district track.
But his son feared patrons would complain.
Instead, workers, children and residents at the park district affectionately dubbed Karsten The Harmonica Man and started taking breaks from their days to listen to his songs.
"He really brings us a lot of joy playing that harmonica," says Ellen Hart, park district spokeswoman. "It's just a riot. From the minute he steps out of the car in the parking lot, I know he's here because he immediately starts playing."
So when Karsten turned 90 this month, they sent some joy his way -- this time by throwing him a surprise birthday party.
About 25 people celebrated the milestone, including Arild, his sister Shieley Keldsen and their mother Margrethe, students from the day-care program and park district staff.
While everyone came for cake and the "Happy Birthday" song, the main event was, of course, harmonica tunes.
"I had no idea the magnitude of what they were going to do," said Arild Egeland. "I was just flabbergasted with the effort they made."
Egeland says his father has played the harmonica since his childhood in Norway, where all eight of his siblings played instruments to entertain themselves before the advent of TVs and video games.
Today, Egeland says, music and walking the track at the park district help his father as he struggles with Alzheimer's. Both men go to the Wood Dale Park District to walk the track at least once per week, because they believe it helps slow the effects of the disease.
And Egeland says making music on the harmonica fills his father with pride.
"It's something that he's good at that other people can't do," Egeland says. "Knowing that he can do that and entertain people, it gives him a feeling of worth."