Is Bell Park amphitheatre the show-stopper Sudbury was promised 10 years ago?

The former artistic director of Northern Lights Festival Boreal, Paul Loewenberg, remembers the moment in 2009 when City of Greater Sudbury officials told him the news.

The city was receiving $5 million in infrastructure stimulus funding from the federal and provincial governments to build a new amphitheatre in Bell Park, the home of his festival.

"In a flip comment I said 'That's amazing, we should spend $1 million to make the park a beautiful place and then $4 million building an old theatre downtown and we'd have a performing arts centre at the same time,'" Loewenberg recalls.

"And they just laughed and said 'No, we can't do that."

Some 10 years later, the debate about whether Sudbury needs an all-season performing arts centre continues.

As does the debate about whether the amphitheatre, renamed for former Sudbury mayor Grace Hartman, is all that it could be. 

The infrastructure funding, which was being spread around to soften the blow of the global financial crisis of 2009, was supposed to go to "shovel-ready" projects.

"The plan was not in place. It all came together rather quickly as soon as the funding was there," says Loewenberg.

He wishes more thought had been put into the aesthetics of the concert venue, helping it to match better with the natural surroundings of Bell Park and Ramsey Lake.

Back in 2009, city councillors were told the hope was to make extra revenue with stand alone concerts at the amphitheatre, but those have been few and far between.

Loewenberg says as an independent promoter, one-off events in an outside venue are a "real risk" and a rained out show "would have cost me my house."

Jeff Pafford was a recreation coordinator with the city when the amphitheatre was being planned and is now the director of leisure services.

He believes the plan found a good balance between professional shows and community events.

"The original vision was always to have a community facility first that had the capacity to host larger shows and concerts," says Pafford.

"I think we'd certainly like to see more events and walkathons and community events booked, we are open to having those discussions with event organizers."

Currently, the amphiteathre is used about 45 days a year, generating around $70,000 in revenue for the city, offsetting the annual operating costs of about $300,000.

Former Sudbury city councillor Jacques Barbeau says the amphiteatre is on the long list of projects he's proud of from his time in office, even if some aspects could have been done better.

"Some of it was rushed. Right, wrong or indifferent," he says.

But Barbeau puts any blame on the provincial and federal governments for spreading funding around, especially in the lead up to elections, without working closely with city and town councils.

"And politically that's probably a ridiculous comment to make but that's the reality," he says. 

"We all pay taxes and we should be looking at all communities and planning these things appropriately."