Music will soon fill the Leamington lakefront at a new amphitheatre.
The Seacliff Park Amphitheatre, a $1.4-million project built directly on the shore, was formally dedicated in a ceremony on Friday. A slate of local, provincial and national musical acts was also revealed to kick off the venue's inaugural season.
Chatham-Kent-Essex MPP Rick Nicholls was there to cut the ribbon, along with a beaming John Paterson, the mayor of Leamington. He said the finished project is a dream come true for the municipality.
"I don't have words as to how excited I am," said Paterson. "This has been a long-time dream of mine, and a lot of my friends who play music as well, we've been dreaming about this forever and a day."
The amphitheatre was built on land that was obliterated by a tornado in 2010. Seacliff Park as a whole has been redeveloped, and the nearby marina is once again thriving. Paterson said the municipality saw an opportunity to acquire land along the Lake Erie shoreline and use it to nurture events, similar to those elsewhere in Essex County.
"We look at other communities like the city of Windsor that have taken that lead, purchased property, revamped it and made it to what it is today," said Paterson.
Chatham-Kent-Essex MPP Rick Nicholls (centre) cuts the ribbon of the new Seacliff Park Amphitheatre in Leamington on April 20, 2018. Photo by Mark Brown/Blackburn News.
The final push to build the amphitheatre came in 2017, when Leamington received a $400,000 Ontario150 Community Capital Program grant, administered by the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
The programming at the park for this summer ranges from rock, to country to classical music. The OnThe42 Summer Concert Series kicks off on Saturday, June 16 with a concert by the three-time Juno Award-winning rock band The Sheepdogs. Tribute bands honouring Queen, Van Halen and Elvis Presley are among the other acts scheduled throughout the summer.
In addition, the amphitheatre will complement the Arts @ the Marina event on June 30 and July 1. The Windsor Symphony Orchestra will perform on June 30 as part of the 100th birthday of nearby Point Pelee National Park, followed by a fireworks display. The music acts Universal Xpression, Brave Soul and DJ Mtrx will perform on Canada Day itself.
Another highlight is the Hogs For Hospice event, set for August 3, 4 and 5. The motorcycle rally is raising money for the Erie Shores Hospice South Essex Campus.
The municipality's official events website provides a detailed schedule of events and entertainment.