Sandstone Amphitheater

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Sandstone Amphitheater

Location	Bonner Springs, KS
Type	open-air amphitheater
Opened	1984
Owner	The Unified Government
Renovated	2008
Former name(s)	Verizon Wireless Amphitheater

Sandstone Amphitheater (officially known as Capital Federal Park at Sandstone) is an open-air entertainment venue at 633 N. 130th in Bonner Springs, Kansas, near the Village West development. The venue is owned by the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas.

1 History
2 Green Initiatives
3 Events
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] History

Designed by Bird Engineering, Sandstone Amphitheater originally opened in 1984 as the Sandstone Center for the Performing Arts. The venue was renamed as the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in June 2002 after the wireless company bought the naming rights to the venue for seven years from Houston-based Clear Channel Entertainment for an undisclosed amount. Clear Channel Communications spun off its live events management division in 2005 to form Los Angeles-based Live Nation, which continued to manage the venue through the 2007 concert season.

In September 2007, Live Nation announced that it would let expire its contract to manage the amphitheater on December 31, 2007. In January 2008, the Unified Government Commission ratified a pact with local promoter Chris Fritz’s New West Presentations, Inc. to operate the venue through the end of 2009, with a two-year option to extend the contract. Under the new deal with New West, the venue name would revert back to Sandstone.

Through 2007, the venue featured 6,700 reserved seats and general admission lawn seating. Beginning in 2008, plans are underway to remove the majority of the reserved seats closest to the stage in order to make that area a general admission section. The change in in the seating configuration is designed to let more fans get closer to the performers. Additional structural changes for 2008 include an upgraded VIP club and new sound and video systems.

Through the years the stage has fought several limitations, a 37-foot roof is well below the norm which often proves challenging to book shows.

[edit] Green Initiatives

A primary component of the changes to the venue in 2008 involve the venue's efforts to "go green" and become more environmentally friendly. These initiatives are evidenced in the venue's new logo. Free parking will be offered to those who carpool with at least 4 people in a vehicle or those who arrive in alternative fuel vehicles. LEED certification will also be a goal the venue hopes to achieve by the use of solar panels and wind turbines for energy, setting up a compost site, and allowing bio-fueled vehicle owners to collect used cooking oil.