EDITORIAL: Burt's Music helped keep a community in tune

The sign in the large front window at 11th and Sherman was a bit jarring to the eyes: “For Lease.” 

The office space had long been home to Burt’s Music and Sound. If you needed a musical instrument repaired, needed to buy one, needed advice, a tune up or even needed a shoulder to cry on because life was off-key, Burt’s was the place to go.  

And many did. 

It was that way for more than five decades, which is how long Denny Burt had been North Idaho’s conductor of instrument repairs. Like Hudson’s Hamburgers and the Iron Horse and Clark’s Diamond Jewelers, you could count on Burt’s Music to be there day after day after day. It was among the special few that had long been a mainstay of Sherman Avenue, and each in their own way made Coeur d'Alene a better place.

But, sadly, the old adage that all good things must come to an end is true. Forgive us for using a cliche, but Burt’s swan song has been sung. 

Denny Burt decided it was time to retire. While he had high hopes of finding a buyer for the business, he couldn’t. Now, the store sits empty, but for going-out-of-business signs and a few other reminders of the music shop that once operated there and played a key role in the neighborhood. 

With it goes more than 50 years of knowledge, 50 years of culture and character, 50 years of connection. Perhaps that doesn’t seem that important to most. Businesses open and close all the time. No big deal. 

But it is.  

Burt’s was one of Coeur d’Alene’s icons that kept the community attached to its roots. It was a link to the past that sometimes made everything seem normal and provided a bit of comfort. It kept us in harmony.

It will reverberate in memory, of course, and in influence, because Burt’s helped a great number of musicians and would-be musicians. But there was more to it.

Perhaps more than anything, shops like Burt's help keep a community in tune. 

Play on.