Outdoor Amphitheater

[dioscorides]

according to the tulsa world, the amphitheater and floating stage are getting the axe.
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Facelift planned for Tulsa's River West Festival Park
By KEVIN CANFIELD World Staff Writer
Published: 3/24/2013  1:50 AM
Last Modified: 3/24/2013  4:24 AM

Dominic Spadafore has come up with a few ideas he thinks will make River West Festival Park special - again.


For starters, he gets rid of what doesn't work anymore - the concrete amphitheater, the floating stage, the forest of green utility boxes and the basketball courts.

Then he adds a new entrance, green space, a new stage - on land - a playground and a 250-foot-long bridge.

"This was perfect in its heyday," Spadafore said during a recent tour of the park. "It's just that Tulsa has outgrown what was here, so we are just bringing it up to what Tulsa uses now."

Constructed in the late 1970s using an $821,000 federal economic development grant, River West Festival Park is home to the hugely popular Oktoberfest and a few other large events. But officials from the River Parks Authority, which oversees the park, say they want a more flexible venue.

Read the rest here: http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20130324_16_A15_CUTLIN562038

[Conan71]

I'd heard the rumor those would be gone a couple years back from a friend at INCOG.

My personal opinion is we didn't maintain the amphitheater but the story tries to make it sound like Tulsans simply lost interest in it.  

[carltonplace]

I'd heard the rumor those would be gone a couple years back from a friend at INCOG.

My personal opinion is we didn't maintain the amphitheater but the story tries to make it sound like Tulsans simply lost interest in it.  

"Tulsans simply lost interest in it" would be news to all of the people that go to concerts there (like the excellent Star light Band Concerts in the summer).

[Townsend]

"Tulsans simply lost interest in it" would be news to all of the people that go to concerts there (like the excellent Star light Band Concerts in the summer).

Harumph

[Conan71]

"Tulsans simply lost interest in it" would be news to all of the people that go to concerts there (like the excellent Star light Band Concerts in the summer).

We used to get some great concerts there.  Two which really stand out are The Moody Blues and Bruce Hornsby.  Both were excellent shows.

Robert Palmer had problems with the insects though.  Was anyone else at the show when he started ad-libbing: "Gonna have to face it you're infested with bugs"?  Moths every where in the stage lighting.

[davideinstein]

Name a major metro area without a decent sized pavilion for shows.

Seattle is one...but they have the Gorge.

[Teatownclown]

We don't have enough venues in Teatown!

I just love sittin' out there on the dirty river with bugs everywhere and the sweet smell of whatever they stick in the refinery emissions to cover up the noxious odors. 

There's a good reason this was a failed investment.

[Teatownclown]

We used to get some great concerts there.  Two which really stand out are The Moody Blues and Bruce Hornsby.  Both were excellent shows.

Robert Palmer had problems with the insects though.  Was anyone else at the show when he started ad-libbing: "Gonna have to face it you're infested with bugs"?  Moths every where in the stage lighting.

I guess it depends what you were "on" that night...personally, Hornsby's show at The Old Lady was superior. Bob Dylan despised this venue...he kept swallowing bugs.

[Townsend]

I just love sittin' out there on the dirty river with bugs everywhere and the sweet smell of whatever they stick in the refinery emissions to cover up the noxious odors. 

I don't believe this was something you've experienced recently.

[heironymouspasparagus]

American Theater Company would do shows on the roof of one of the old warehouses right along the railroad tracks downtown back in the 70's.  They were the one little light in the darkness for many years in the attempt to rejuvenate downtown!  When the Williams Brothers were bulldozing, they were trying to re-purpose old buildings!  Long Live Joyce Martel!!!

They showed you don't have to have a fancy facility - you just need some imagination and the ability to think of how to use what's available.  Clayton Vaughn could be seen at some of those events.

Oh, and God knows why, but there weren't massive infestations of bugs, either.  

[TeeDub]

I enjoyed the music at the amphitheater.   The Starlight concert series always drew a crowd.  Even last year in the heat.
http://www.starlightbands.net/

I just wonder how they are going to renovate anything and get a draw now that they are developing all the nearby parking.

[AquaMan]

The Amphitheater and the nearby area was something that needed to be privatized or leased out to people with imagination, marketing skills, contacts in the creative realm and leadership with a backbone. There was (and is) too much insider pressure from nearby neighborhoods. The parking design is abysmal, the basketball courts have been a total waste of space for years and on and on. Smell isn't one of them Tea. The south winds push the smells of the old Texaco refinery up and over the area.

The man made peninsula they intend to put a bridge over (analagous to painting an old Rambler with a Krylon spray can) should be destroyed. It created a lagoon that breeds insects, turtles and trash while serving as an attractive nuisance for problem children. All these problems, then they plopped a floating stage in the lagoon and seemed surprised that it couldn't compete with other entertainment venues.

Most people do not know that the original plans called for moving the Amphitheater out into the Zink Lake for some performances. The naivete was stunning.

[carltonplace]

I know we funded changes to this area in the last 3rd Penney referendum, but shouldn't any redesign of the space be holistic enough to incorporate long term plans for the area? Examples include Dr Crowley's rail plans and the city council adopted INCOG river development plan, and this:

[Teatownclown]

Crowley's crayola box was always the best in town.

[davideinstein]

We don't have enough venues in Teatown!

I just love sittin' out there on the dirty river with bugs everywhere and the sweet smell of whatever they stick in the refinery emissions to cover up the noxious odors. 

There's a good reason this was a failed investment.

Yep.