Saluda’s North Carolina Small Town Main Street (NCSTMS) promotions team proposed to Saluda Council that McCreery Park be redesigned to include an amphitheater.

Council met on Monday, Dec. 9 and heard from Judy Ward with the promotions team.

Ward said the STMS team started concerts at McCreery Park in July, which were a great success. She thanked the city for putting a stage there and for everyone’s support and said when the concerts start again in May the team would like to propose some improvements.

Ward said the group saw a park at Chimney Rock with a small amphitheater that was made from nature.

The group is proposing to make the park multi-purposed, asking the city if they could change the name of the old skate park to the “Top of the Grade at McCreery Park” and build a natural amphitheater with tiered seating into the bank at the south side of the park.

The proposal also suggests moving the climbing playground equipment to the north side of the park next to the bushes (take up concrete and replace with sand), to replace the sandy area at the south side with grass, to repave or mark a stage area in the existing concrete area below the amphitheater and place electrical outlets around it, to place picnic tables in the area and to put in more lighting and foliage.

“In planning and conducting these concerts, we learned that the area we were using had great potential to serve all types of activities and performances by a variety of Saluda organizations,” said the proposal from the STMS promotions team. “We also realized that the area needed a redesign to attract people to the area and to make it more enjoyable and usable.

“This natural amphitheater would be an economical and long-sustaining venue that could be used for many purposes with low annual maintenance.”

The promotions team includes Terry Baisden, Cathy Jackson and Judy Ward with Maria Wynn, Shelley DeKay and Susan Casey recently joining the group.

The STMS promotions team began a series of outdoor concerts that ran from July through October 2013 named the “Top of the Grade Concerts.”

The city built a temporary stage from a truck flatbed and flower planters which were located in the paved area of McCreery Park, also known as the old skate board park or the old tennis courts. The concerts featured local and regional performing artists and attracted a crowd of Saluda residents as well as guests from neighboring towns. The goal of the concerts is to draw visitors to Main Street and to create an awareness of all the opportunities to shop in Saluda’s stores and dine in Saluda’s restaurants.

Concerts for next year are already being planned.