Today, the Mesker Park Memorial Amphitheater is weed-choked with rotting pavilions and graffiti-scrawled walls.
The facility has been unused since 2012. The City of Evansville Parks Board issued a request for proposal this summer to “rehabilitate, revive and utilize” the 70-plus year-old facility.
City Parks Executive Director Danielle Crook said she’s not surprised they only received one proposal to lease the amphitheater.
“I think somebody that has experience running in a similar venue, it makes sense to me,” she said. “I don't know how many people were out there that felt like they could take that on. It's a huge undertaking, but overall, we just want to see what this leads to, if anything.”
Tim Drake, who runs The Mill Event Center and Amphitheater, submitted the sole proposal.
The city’s goal is to partner with someone with experience with such a project and not use taxpayer funds. Crook is aware of how important the amphitheater is to the community.
“The community would like to see it back again,” she said. “We want to make sure that it can be done safely. We want to make sure that if it's something that is offered to the community; you know there's high expectations there.”
At the Wednesday parks board meeting the commissioners took the proposal into advisement but released no details of Drake’s idea.
Those submitting plans were required to detail capital improvement plans along with concessions and revenue sharing with the city. There are many steps to such a bid being accepted and then executed.
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