Construction begins for Hutto amphitheater venue, park
Earth moving equipment started cutting into this former ranch land earlier this month. The site, located in South Hutto on County Road 137, is along Brushy Creek.
The project is being financed with $3 million in bond money.
"As we are reaching that 30,000 mark, our community started saying, we want more parks we want more quality of life and we want more things to do,” said city spokesperson Eliska Padilla.
Hutto city leaders went big. The diamond shaped area in the northeast corner is where a 4,000 seat amphitheater is going to be. The venue is being built to expand so it can handle larger crowds.
"So this gives us a new home to gather, also with it being an amphitheater and its attracting people here, it improves our economic vitality for the community, it’s very important that we continue to add new things to the economy, new money coming into the economy, so when we have these events, where we have a town with population of nearly 30,000 and that in one night might bring in 10,000 or maybe one weekend bring in 20,000 that’s huge for our economy,” said Padilla.
The amphitheater is expected to be completed in late August which will not be in time for the first big event at the park. The city has signed a partnership with country alternative radio station KOKE.
It's annual music festival will be held in Hutto.
An open field will be used for the stages, they'll set up near the front of the park close to an existing pavilion. Another issue to be address comes after all the construction equipment is replaced with a lot of traffic. Long and short term plans are in the works.
"We won’t have a mobility master plan until the summer, I know we are working with police and traffic control and KOKEFest and make sure we not only have two entrances’ on CR 137, but also have an exit on 163,” said Padilla.
The park does not have an official name yet.
It will get somewhat of a dry run before the music festival.
A fourth of July fireworks party is going to be held at the new park.
That will help test crowd control plans.