SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Inaugural Community Festival
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.: Burgundy & Blue Regatta (Great Miami Rowing Center, 110 North B St.
1 to 2 p.m.: The Cincinnati Brass (Hamilton-Fairfield Symphony Orchestra) at RiversEdge Park & Amphitheater, 200 Riverfront Plaza
2 to 3 p.m.: After the Flood: Dance-Theater (Demetrius Klein Dance Company) at RiversEdge Park & Amphitheater
3:30 to 5.30 p.m.: Stories and Songs of River Live (The Rabbit Hash String Band) at RiversEdge Park & Amphitheater
5:45 to 6 p.m.: Ceremonial Remarks (Mayor Pat Moeller, City of Hamilton; Curt Ellison, Flood Centennial Committee) at RiversEdge Park & Amphitheater
6 to 8 p.m.: Rockin’ the River (Blue Sacrifice) at RiversEdge Park & Amphitheater
COST: No admission charges. Parking is free at the George F. McDulin Memorial Parking Garage, 102 N. Second St.
MORE INFO: Lawn chairs and blankets welcome. This is an alcohol-free event.
BY THE NUMBERS
2,300: The capacity (sitting) at the amphitheater
3,300: The capacity (standing) at the amphitheater
$1 million: Construction costs for the project. Funding was paid via grants from the Mercy Health Foundation, Ohio Department of Transportation, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Ohio Cultural Facilities Commission and Hamilton Community Foundation.
Source: City of Hamilton
SUMMER CONCERTS
WHERE: RiversEdge Park & Amphitheater, 200 Riverfront Plaza
June 13: The Salients and the Revivalists
June 27: Blue Sacrifice and Motor City Josh and the Big 3
July 25: Pistol Holler and 90 Proof Twang
Aug. 2: Hamilton Lane Library’s end-of-summer reading celebration featuring West African Rhythm with Sogbety!
Aug. 9: Honor and Remember concert featuring Zapp Band and Watershed
Aug. 10: Honor and Remember concert featuring School of Rock, Systems Go, Hard Candy and Old Skool
*concerts are also planned for Aug. 24 and Sept. 20, but those performers have not yet been announced
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This is one of the many stories the Hamilton JournalNews has recently brought to you about downtown Hamilton development. We have more reporters focused on Hamilton than any other local media outlet.
RiversEdge Park & Amphitheater is months away from its official opening, but events this weekend and summer offer plenty of ways to get a taste of what the new outdoor venue has to offer.
The facility at 200 Riverfront Plaza is the site of an inaugural Community Festival, which marks the finale of the City of Hamilton’s 1913 Flood Centennial Commemoration and welcomes the amphitheater as a community resource.
The commemoration is not just to remember the disaster, but to honor the citywide and regional cooperation that helped build a flood protection system that has lasted a century, according to Curt Ellison, the commemoration committee’s convenor.
“That’s what makes possible the 21st century reorientation of cities along the Miami River toward the river,” Ellison said. “The RiversEdge Amphitheater is present today because of the work that was done by the Miami Conservancy District to protect us from flooding and it allows the river now to become a resource for the future development of the community in terms of recreation and other themes.”
In the next three to four weeks, most of the first phase of work on the site will be completed. That phase includes creation of the RiversEdge public park, an extension of the Great Miami Recreational Trail for bicycling and walking, construction of river overlook/amphitheater, pedestrian entry plazas, and Riverfront Plaza intersection improvements.
Funding for the $1 million project comes from Mercy Health Foundation, Hamilton Community Foundation, Ohio Department of Transportation, Ohio Cultural Facilities Commission and Ohio Department of Natural Resources, according to Mike Dingledein, who was on the design and construction team for the amphitheater with SHP Leading Design and MKSK.
Two parts of the project’s second phase — its stage and restrooms — are all but wrapped up, Dingledein said.
The site must wait for about six weeks for metal panels to finish off the interior of the restrooms because the panels could only be fabricated after the building was in place, he said.
All that remains is a mid-August installation of a tensile structure that will provide 1,700 square feet of roof to shield the amphitheater from sun and rain.
A third phase is designed to include a children’s playground, climbing mound and pavilion building, but no funding has been identified yet at this time, Dingledein said.
While no official opening date has been set at this time, there is still plenty of programming slated for the amphitheater, said Karen Wittmer, Hamilton’s program coordinator for volunteers and RiversEdge Park and Amphitheater.
The city’s Summer Concert Series will be held at the amphitheater twice in June, July and August.
The organization decided to move its second annual summer concert from Veterans Park because of what RiversEdge has to offer, according to Tom Mitchell, Honor and Remember’s Ohio chapter director.
“There’s more parking, it’s level and it has all the amenities that we need,” Mitchell said. “Last year we had to bring in a generator, portalets … and a sound system. We had to build a stage because there is no stage (at Veterans Park). We basically had to build a performance pavilion, which is what the amphitheater is.”
Hamilton Lane Library has booked an end of summer reading celebration at the amphitheater.
The RiversEdge Park and Amphitheater is “a unique asset to have in the city,” said Carrie Mancuso, spokeswoman for the Lane Libraries.
“Up until this point, we didn’t have any outdoor venues that we could offer programming in,” she said. “Much like our Fairfield venue, which is adjacent to their amphitheater, we’re able to do a lot of programs at the amphitheater and garner larger crowds that way.”
Currently, the library’s Hamilton branch has a meeting room as its largest indoor facility.
“That limits us to how many people we can have in,” Mancuso said. “To have this outdoor venue — especially for the summertime events — is great for us and brings together the library and the community.”
Wittmer said many people have expressed to her how excited they are about the amphitheater and commented on how beautiful the structure looks along the river.
“People are looking forward to events happening and it being utilized,” she said.
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