Pittsburgh’s world-famous concert boat retires to Florida port
A 195-foot-long boat that was Pittsburgh’s musical ambassador to the world is now moored in Pahokee, Fla., a city that tops several online “worst town in Florida” lists due to economic stagnation, high unemployment and crime.
Designed by famed architect Louis Kahn and built in 1976 to mark the U.S. bicentennial, Point Counterpoint II was once a gorgeous, gleaming, double-hulled ship with an acoustic shell to help musicians project their sounds over waters both domestic and foreign. Now, its propulsion systems are inoperable, its plumbing is suspect, and it needs a new coat of paint. The repair cost is estimated to be about $1 million.
It’s the only vessel designed by Mr. Kahn still floating. (He also designed Point Counterpoint I, though it was abandoned after a single summer.) Robert Austin Boudreau of Butler County has been trying to sell Point Counterpoint II for two decades.
Mr. Boudreau is a 92-year-old poultry farmer in Mars. He’s a Juilliard-trained musician and the founder of the American Wind Symphony, which incorporated in 1957 and performed on the vessel for more than 40 years to crowds on riverbanks throughout the U.S., Europe, South America and, in 1989, Soviet Russia. The symphony, the vessel’s official owner, performed its 60th anniversary tour in 2017.
That year, when Yo-Yo Ma learned that Mr. Boudreau was considering selling the concert boat so it could be stripped down to become an ordinary barge, the cellist wrote a stirring plea published in The New York Review of Books calling for someone to step in and rescue it.
“While Point Counterpoint II might lack the solidity and repose [attributed] to Kahn’s buildings, it is no less monumental. It sails as a powerful, living testament to American creativity and to the elemental role that culture plays in human life,” Mr. Ma wrote at the time.
Robert Lambert, who lives in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., read Mr. Ma’s piece and remembered seeing the concert boat in New York City during the bicentennial celebration. He believed moving this attraction to Pahokee could inject a
shot of culture and history into this struggling city in southern Florida.
“We want it to be a very first-class operation,” said Mr. Lambert, president of Cruise America LLC and a partner in Everglades Reserves Holdings LLC, an investment group under contract to sublease and manage Pahokee’s lakefront marina, restaurant and campground.
“It’s a piece of history that absolutely needs to be preserved.”
Lakefront symphony
Pahokee is a city of about 6,000 people on Lake Okeechobee in Palm Beach County, about 40 miles from West Palm Beach. In addition to its gorgeous sunset views, it’s known for its high unemployment and a crime rate nearly double the national average. There is also a colony of registered sex offenders, Miracle Village, about three miles outside Pahokee.
The American Wind Symphony, which was directed by Mr. Boudreau, still owns the concert boat, but Mr. Lambert said he hopes to raise the funds to purchase the vessel eventually. He said he is now working with the city to raise money for the necessary repairs, which he estimated will be close to $1 million. The sale price will likely vary depending on how much is spent on repairs, he said.
“Pahokee is an area of critical economic concern,” Mr. Lambert said. “We want to get her Coast Guard-approved once more and travel around the state waterways like she used to. I see this vessel being used for a wide variety of entertainment.”
The vessel is currently undergoing restoration by various groups in Pahokee, including the Seafarers International Union, the American Legion and Ladies of the Lake.
Point to point to point
Point Counterpoint II had been moored in Ottawa, Ill., before being towed more than 1,000 miles down the Mississippi River to New Orleans and then across the Okeechobee Waterway to its new home. It pulled into Lake Okeechobee last August during one of the area’s worst storms in recent years, according to Regina Bohlen, executive director of the Pahokee Chamber of Commerce.
“The City of Pahokee has included this treasure in our lakefront revitalization plan ... [which includes] open-air, amphitheater-style seating at the lakefront to accommodate this fantastic boat,” Ms. Bohlen said.
There is to be an art gallery on board that will display work by local as well as international artists, and Ms. Bohlen is working with the local school board to implement a music education program called “Winds Over the Glades.”
It is to be similar to a program that Mr. Boudreau created in Pittsburgh called “Winds over the Mon” (short for Monongahela River), an initiative that provided underprivileged students with a musical instrument and instruction. It helped many young musicians earn scholarships to respected music schools, Mr. Boudreau said. He and the Pahokee Chamber of Commerce are in the process of procuring instruments and signing up teachers for the program in Pahokee.
“The hope is that we’ll have a concert series started down there by July,” Mr. Boudreau said. “When I think about growing up as a poultry farmer and making the mistake of picking up a trumpet when I was 9 years old ... so much came from that moment. This boat didn’t happen by magic. I had a dream, and it came about through hard work.”