Marissa Amoni, left, the manager of the Aurora Downtown group, and Aurora Ald. Sherman Jenkins, at large, play instruments in the new musical garden outside the children's section of the Aurora Public Library downtown. (Steve Lord / The Beacon-News)

It might seem minor, but Monica Boyer said the new musical garden outside the Aurora Public Library’s downtown branch will make a major difference.

“It will impact many lives to come,” said the senior manager of Children’s Services at the library. “If music is introduced, it means better math skills, better communication skills - it fosters that feeling of attraction and learning.”

Which is what prompted the idea for the garden, which the library officially opened over the weekend, just outside the children’s section of the library at River and Benton streets.

People gathered in the garden before Aurora’s First Fridays event to cut the ribbon on the facility, and even try out some of the musical drums and bells.

The garden was funded by about a $9,000 grant from the Streetscape Committee of Aurora Downtown, the group which oversees spending from the downtown special service area. The money had been earmarked for another downtown mural, but the committee decided not to do a mural this year, according to Marissa Amoni, Aurora Downtown manager.

The garden outside of the children’s area was developed when the Santori Library was built seven years ago, and was paid for then by Aurora Downtown.

“We decided to spruce it up,” Amoni said. “So we worked out a partnership with the library, which we’re very excited about.”