With Planned Amphitheater, Schweitzer Tries Again To Lure Festival

Schweitzer Mountain Resort is hoping to woo the beleaguered Festival at Sandpoint to the ski resort’s lofty location.

It’s using an amphitheater as bait.

“I think it could be a win-win situation,” said Bobbie Huguenin, president of Schweitzer Inc. “It definitely would support our direction, which is to be a year-round resort.”

Huguenin said her organization is prepared to build an amphitheater that would be the permanent home for The festival’s mainstage events. The resort made the same offer last year.

The 14-year-old festival may have to move from its traditional home on Memorial Field. The festival has only a one-year lease at the site, where three weeks of concerts are held.

A group of Memorial Field residents, who have at times endured 5,000 cars parked in their neighborhood, say the festival has outgrown the field.

Schweitzer already had plans to build a smaller amphitheater within the next five years or so, Huguenin said. But the amphitheater could be finished in two years and seat thousands if the festival chose to relocate to the mountain resort.

“I’d like to see it done in quite a stunning and exceptional way,” she said. “I’d like it to be something beautiful and aesthetically pleasing in itself.”

Huguenin said the offer was declined last year in part because of the long drive up the mountain.