The event is always popular with residents and this year they saw something for the very first time – a brand new state-of-the-art band shell at Aquatore Park that was christened with a ribbon cutting.
This capped off a long wait for the city and the festival.
“We got rid of the 1971 bathrooms that used to be out here,” said Jerome Krieger of the Blaine Parks and Recreation department. “With that we built this new $4 million band shell with additional bathrooms on the side and also in the flex bay with storage underneath for both the city and the Blaine Festival, who donated $1 million to the project.”
The process for getting a new band shell began in 2018 and was identified as a top need for the city.
Taking notes
Plenty of research went into finding the right design for the band shell.
“The Blaine Festival committee went out and looked at different band shells and tried to get an idea of what ones they liked,” Krieger said. “I know they looked at Shoreview and Maple Grove and stuff like that. They came back with a mock design of what they wanted to do.”
The finished product is a 10,000-square-foot venue. The initial tab was going to be $1 million but because of COVID and supply chain issues, the final cost topped out at $4 million.
“The Festival kept upping their ante each time to make it known that they were ready to be invested with us and be a partner,” Krieger said.
In a few months Blaine will promote the facility in a spring and winter brochure. Groups will be able to rent it out starting in 2025.
