Piano on Sandbar Mystery Solved: Blame a Raucous New Year's Eve Party

Now it all makes sense.

It turns out the grand piano that recently appeared -- with no explanation, mind you -- on a sandbar in Florida's Biscayne Bay got there as result of a New Year's Eve bash and a college admissions stunt that didn't quite go as planned.

But before we get into that, a bit of background on the musical instrument. According to The Miami Herald, the piano had served as a movie prop some years ago. It eventually made its way to the garage of the mother of J. Mark Harrington, the production designer for the TV show "Burn Notice."

Enter Nicholas Harrington, J. Mark Harrington's teenage son. The 16-year-old, a MAST Academy junior who's looking to study at Manhattan's Cooper Union college, wanted to improve his chances of getting in to the New York school. He apparently received a spark of inspiration.

Here's more from The Herald:

Nicholas had an idea: As a promotional video to get into college, he would make a video on the nondescript sandbar using the piano, bagpipes from a neighbor, and a small submersible sub used for studies at MAST. So the family moved the piano the few blocks from Grandma's place to their home.

But the piano never got to be a part of the shoot.

After it arrived at the Harrington household in Miami Shores, the piano ended up getting torched during a big New Year's Eve party there. On Jan. 2, The Associated Press said, Nicholas, his older brother, Andrew, and two neighbors put the piano onto the Harrington family boat and took it to the Biscayne Bay sandbar -- where it was set aflame again.

The question of how the piano got there was publicly answered when, according to The New York Times, the Harringtons stepped forward, with video evidence, to take credit after a different family claimed responsibility.

By order of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the piano was removed on Thursday, and the Harringtons were spared a ticket.

So there you have it.

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