Improvisational pianist Denis Chericone of Enterprise will be featured at “An Evening of Piano and Pastries” Sunday evening at the First Baptist Church in Enterprise. The event is a benefit for the Wallowa County Family Youth Center and admission is by donation.

A coffee and pastry hour will start at 5 p.m., with Chericone scheduled to begin the musical portion of the event at 6 p.m.

The pianist and his family moved to Wallowa County from Boise, Idaho, this summer and Sunday will be his first public concert in their new home.

A native of New York City, the pianist originally moved to Oregon in 1969 after service with the U.S. Army, living at various places in the state, including the Mount Hood foothills, Portland, southern Oregon and the coast.

Chericone started playing piano professionally in 1980 and played in jazz, rock and blues bands before going solo for the past 15 years. He’s played in many venues. In Boise he played at the Grove Hotel.

He’s been away from the state for the past six years but said Boise has gotten too big. “This place is so beautiful and the people are so friendly,” he said about Wallowa County. He and his wife, Anne, love the atmosphere of the county and want to raise their daughter, Carmen, 3, here.

Chericone said youth center director Darrel Gilliland asked him “to play a song” the first time they met and the fundraiser eventually grew out of that introduction.

“It’s a good cause,” he said of the youth center.

The youth center, located on Highway 82 between Enterprise and Joseph, is a nonprofit organization that relies on donations and occasional fundraisers to help keep membership fees down and for operational expenses.

Organizers hope to continue this musical event an annual affair during the Christmas season.