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By Hannah Saunders

The grand opening of the new Volunteer Park amphitheater will take place on July 2, where performances will follow for the rest of the summer. The new stage is replacing the old brick amphitheater, built 51 years ago.

The project has been in development for about six years with its community priorities headed by the Volunteer Park Trust community group.

Terry Morgan, event producer for the park’s summer series celebrating the new facility, said the previous amphitheater was falling apart and wasn’t up to performance standards. The new amphitheater? It is state of the art.

“One of the unique items on the stage is instead of just having a backstage wall, it’s actually a wall that pivots, so when the wall will be open you’ll just see right through the stage, and it just becomes an open space,” Morgan said, adding that it’s also a perfect space for morning yoga and stretching that the public can regularly enjoy.

As for the old stage, not many will miss the bricks.

“It had always had some pretty significant shortcomings from a performance perspective,” said Jennifer Ott, board chair of the Volunteer Park Trust. “It really was an eyesore.”

Volunteer Park Amphitheater Summer Series Lineup:
July 14: Picnic in the Park + KNKX Welcomes an Evening of Jazz Piano
Duende Libre
Marina Albero
Marc Seales

July 21: World, Folk & Pop
The Paperboys
Zan Fiskum

July 28: C89.5 Welcomes the Spirit of Earth Wind & Fire
Kalimba
Shaina Shepherd

August 4: KNKX Welcomes an Evening of Latin Jazz
Raul Midon
Jovino Santos Neto

August 11: Dance, Dance, Dance!
Lucien Postlewaite
Whim W’Him
The Seattle Project
Dance Church

August 18: Women in Song
Star Anna
Alessandra Rose
Eugenie Jones
V. Contreras

The north lawn was a place for performance when the Olmstead park was first designed at the turn of the 20th century. Ott says the original amphitheater was a traditional wooden bandshell that had a big arching back that had to be torn down after World War II because it was made out of wood and degraded over time. A temporary stage served the park through the 1950s and 1960s.

The amphitheater most Capitol Hill residents knew debuted in 1971 and was designed by landscape architect Rich Haag. At that time, the lawn in front of the stage was also regraded, forming the amphitheater.

CHS reported here on the March 2021 start of construction on the $2.7 million amphitheater replacement project that created the new outdoor performance facility with a roof, storage and green room space, all-gender bathrooms, upgraded electrical access, and the “resilient floor that will even accommodate dance performances.”

State Sen. Jamie Pedersen (D-43rd District) is credited by the trust for leading efforts to secure about $900,000 in public funding. The trust’s fundraising supplied the rest of the investment including a roster of major donors including corporate support — yes, Amazon — some local celebrities — hello, Tricia Davis and Ben Haggerty — and dozens of donors who contributed to support the project.

Construction was expected to be completed late last year but delays including impacts from the concrete workers strike and a protest bid pushed the opening date back. Last week, Seattle’s June celebration of LGBTQ communities kicked off with a return to the park for the annual Seattle Pride in the Park concert event that went on with the show on the park’s conservatory lawn with construction still underway on the new amphitheater.

The new stage and roof structure replaces the demolished and crumbling concrete and brick structure that had hosted performances, rallies, and events for five decades.

The most important upgrade is above.

“The roof is a big one,” said Ott. “There were very limited opportunities for performances because of how much rain we get.”

A new roof for the amphitheater will allow for safer performances and will decrease damage to sets or musical instruments. According to Morgan, the size of the stage will stay the same at 30-feet by 40-feet, but the new rubberized floor will allow for greater opportunities for dance performances.

The new amphitheater will also be ADA accessible, according to Ott, who heard in public meetings that the previous amphitheater’s accessibility issues made it unwelcoming. Ott said a new path was put in place with new plantings.

“It’s just awesome,” said Ott. “It’s an aesthetic improvement just as much as it is a functional improvement.”

With $25,000 from a city Neighborhood Matching Fund grant, the trust has planned a summer of events to show off the new stage starting with a July 2nd grand opening for the Capitol Hill facility that will kick off a seven-date summer series of performances.

The grand opening celebration will take place from 2 to 7 PM on Saturday, July 2nd and will include performances by The Not Its!, Taiko Kai, Alec Shaw, Brittany Davis, and LeRoy Bell & His Only Friends.

Then, starting July 14th through August 18th, performances in the series will take place on Thursday evenings from 6 to 8:30 PM.

All events will be free to the public.

“We’re trying to do an opening act and a headliner every night so we feature a new artist with a veteran artist,” said Morgan, who says one of his favorite evenings of the Summer Series will be the night of July 28th, when Kalimba and Shaina Shepherd visit the park.

The Volunteer Park Trust invites you to grab blankets, picnic supplies, and a group to enjoy a show. Food trucks are being planned to serve during the series.

For Ott and the Volunteer Park Trust, it is exciting to see the designs comes to life and meld into the park’s history.

“I am most excited that it fits,” said Ott. “It augments and improves the experience rather than just being nearly functional, and it’s so beautiful.”

Ott said she is hopeful the new stage becomes a resource for communities beyond Capitol Hill.

“I’m hoping there’s community groups across the city going ‘Ooo we could do this or that there,’ and everyone in the park will benefit from the vibrancy that comes from these gatherings,” Ott said.

Keep track of all Volunteer Park events on the CHS Calendar.

PLEASE HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE!
Subscribe to CHS to help us pay writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for as little as $5 a month.