Festival Officials Reveal Idea For New Concert Facility

Future audiences at the Festival at Sandpoint may sit in a shoreline amphitheater and be entertained by musicians performing on a stage above the Pend Oreille River.

Representatives of the non-profit festival presented their vision of a new Memorial Field facility on Tuesday.

Before speaking to the Sandpoint City Council administrative committee, executive director Connie Bergham cautioned that the idea is preliminary.

The stage and seating area would cost an estimated $500,000 to $700,000, not counting sound and lighting equipment.

The idea arose during a search for a permanent home for the festival’s major concert series.The festival’s current home, Sandpoint’s Memorial Field, wasn’t seriously considered because of scheduling conflicts with youth athletic events.But late this fall, the task force began exploring the idea of moving the stage off the playing fields and locating it over the water, outside the field’s south boundary. Spokane archi tect Don Neraas visited the site in late November and came up with the preliminary plan.

The report presented to the City Council members on Tuesday included these details:

The bowl-shaped seating area would be 140 feet deep and 300 feet wide. It could accommodate an audience of 350 to 5,000 people.

The 10,000-square-foot stage would be 4 feet above ground level and built on pilings above the river. It would include two large dressing rooms appropriate for symphony concerts, two small dressing rooms for guest artists, four lavatories and two production/office spaces.

Large, movable doors would close off the front of the stage when it was not being used for concerts. That would provide security for equipment, as well as a large meeting room for the community.

The festival would continue to pay the city 50 cents for each concert ticket sold, meaning it would remain Memorial Field’s biggest financial contributor.