Barry Herring stepped to the podium under the tent shading spectators from sun. Programs were being used as fans against the summer heat.
“Let’s savor this moment,” he asked, to the sound of bulldozers moving dirt.
A little over a year after he’d announced this project, ground was being broken for the Maple Leaf Performing Arts Center.
“To actually stand here and look at all of you beautiful people supporting this project and seeing the bulldozers rolling is a day I never thought I would see, so thank you all,” he said.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]About 150 people, some wearing hard hats, others holding shovels or cameras, took time out of their Tuesday morning to attend the ceremony in the field near the Brown County YMCA on July 10.
The 2,000-seat Maple Leaf Performing Arts Center is expected to open next summer, off State Road 46 in the area of Hawthorne Drive. It will host musical performances by local and national acts of different genres, including country and rock. Concert promoter Live Nation is expected to book 26 shows a year, with a yet-to-be-hired executive director booking the rest.
Herring, owner of the nearby Brown County Inn, was one of the originators of the plan to build a $12.5 million, government-funded entertainment venue. Brown County’s innkeepers tax has been pledged to cover the mortgage payments if not enough revenue is brought in from ticket sales and other fees. The State Bank of Lizton loaned the county $12.5 million to build it and buy the land from Snyder Farm.
“The Maple Leaf is no longer a computer screen full of numbers. It’s a young person attending his or her first concert and discovering a love of music that will last them a lifetime. It’s no longer a PowerPoint presentation or a set of drawings. It’s a senior citizen walking to the venue to volunteer their time and ending up finding people of all ages with similar interests and seeing some of the best music acts in the country,” Herring said.
“It’s also no longer just (architect) Doug Harden’s dream. It’s the ring of the cash register in Nashville for shops that, until now, thought they might have to give up their American dream of owning and operating their own business. We hope to make those cash registers ring.”
Harden brought his “friend,” a mandolin he has played since 1981, to the podium for his remarks. He has played it from Bean Blossom to the Grand Ole Opry stage, to the Kennedy Center stage and the stage in the Library of Congress Coolidge Auditorium. “I thought it wouldn’t be right if he wasn’t he with me today,” he said.
Since the Little Nashville Opry burned down almost 10 years ago, Harden has been trying bring another venue to Brown County. The winter after the Opry was lost to arson, he began drawing plans for a replacement.
“I think another reason I brought my good friend with me is to tell you that Brown County obviously has been known since the 1800s as the place for art. As a musician, I want to remind you that music is art, and this is an extension of that,” he said.
“We have this facility, the art gallery, the art guild and all of the history behind that. Now we’re bringing back music as one of our major art specials here in Brown County.”
Among those speaking at the ceremony were Sen. Eric Koch, R-Bedford, and Rep. Chris May, R-Bedford.
“There will be children, grandchildren and I am sure great grandchildren of those here today who are going to be enjoying this venue for many years to come,” Koch said.
He said the venue will “cement Brown County as both a fine art and performing arts destination.”
“I commit to you that the state, in our marketing efforts, will highlight this venue, as we bring in people not just from Indiana on staycations, but from out of state and even internationally to enjoy what Brown County has to offer,” he said.
May remembered seeing country musicians Lloyd Wood and Charlie Daniels at the Little Nashville Opry with his grandparents.
“I can’t emphasize the fact that you’re truly bringing back the meaning I think everyone within the region and within the state of Indiana truly know Nashville and Brown County for. I am tremendously excited for you all,” he said.
He said the venue is a “testimony to Nashville’s commitment to tourism” and predicted that it will be a key factor in the area’s economic growth. He pledged he and his family would be some of the first people to attend a show.
Brown County Commissioners President Dave Anderson said he was not “completely sold” on the Maple Leaf when he first heard about it, but after seeing who was involved, he changed his mind. “The committees they put together, they weren’t accidental. They had movers and shakers, people who get things done,” he said.
“My hat’s off to the Brown Countians who have been involved in this and have just gotten it done and gotten it done right. No process was missed, not one thing was overlooked and I looked closely. It was done right.”
An ad hoc committee was formed prior to the summer 2017 announcement to meet and discuss the possibility of building the Maple Leaf. That group created a plan to finance and build the venue before making a public announcement at the Brown County Playhouse last June. The members of that committee were Bruce Gould, Kevin Ault, Diana Biddle, Harden, Herring, Jim Schultz and Wayne O’Hara, who was the agent for the Snyder Farm land where the venue is to be built.
Brown County Council President Keith Baker said this new venue will send a “message to all of Indiana that we will continue to be different, continue to lead, continue to offer them a destination full of interesting experiences set in a backdrop of nature.”
“I am happy that people from so many of our small, southern communities can come here for great entertainment, finally, and will no longer have to worry about the added expense and risk of trying to navigate a two-hour drive, and perhaps 10 roundabouts, just to see their favorite performer from the top of row of some stadium,” he said.
Residents react
Groundbreaking organizers had invited local residents to bring their own shovels to help break ground, and several of them did.
Local artists also painted shovels which local dignitaries used. Patricia Bartels was one of the seven Brown County Art Alliance artists who did so. She used her signature gold-leaf painting technique.
Bartels said the new music venue is “wonderful” and that it should help bring revenue up for the local galleries.
“We need this. Our community needs this. Shops need it, the arts need it, it’s something we all need. I think it’s going to be a wonderful success. I am very optimistic. All of us are going to share in it,” she said.
Local resident Jean Wawrzyniak came out to watch. Her daughter is Terri Schultz, another artist who painted a shovel for the event. Terri is married to Jim Schultz, who heads the construction committee for the Maple Leaf Management Group.
“I am extremely happy that it’s taking part and it’s going to be good for Nashville — the youth especially,” Wawrzyniak said. “I also know that the (ticket) price has to be down for a lot of people to come, for sure. I think that will be done. But entertainment is what I need.”
“I absolutely support the entire project to lift this county up about 85 degrees from where it’s been stewing,” said Wawrzyniak’s daughter, Julie Gabriel.
“Bringing music back to this county at this level does things to peoples’ souls and spirits. … Music saved my life, many times. I am from a generation where my concerts in my younger years were festival seating and there was nothing like feeling the energy from live music.”
Resident James Greene attended the groundbreaking because he said he “believes in this for the town of Nashville.”
“I think it will bring good revenue to the town. I think it will be a good place for local musicians as well as national musicians to play. I am a musician myself, so I am just all about it,” he said.
“I’m hoping the community really comes together and supports this. I know there’s some feedback that people aren’t happy about it. I hope they change their minds and I hope it works out for everybody,” Greene said.
Harden said those who have expressed opposition have helped project leaders make sure “we do our homework, make sure we’re not wearing rose-colored glasses and that we do this right.”
“My parents told me basically that if there’s a problem fix it. Don’t sit around and complain, fix it. … That’s what some of us do,” he said.
Even after the groundbreaking happened, Harden said it still hadn’t sunk in that his dream was getting closer to becoming a reality. “It’s exciting. I’ve always been a little bit of a person that keeps a sense of reality. We still have to make it work. I think we have the best team we could ever dream of putting together,” he said.
That team includes marketing firms the Bohlsen Group and the Three Sixty Group, national stage lighting company Bandit Lites and sound acoustic engineer Steven Durr.
Harden said his No. 1 reason for working to bring a music venue here is because of his two children and nine grandchildren. “I really want a future in Brown County for them,” he said.
Construction is expected to take about a year. Footings are expected to be put in the first week of September unless there are weather delays. At that time, Herring said the contractor would lock in a grand opening date, and planning for booking the first act can begin. He didn’t want to say who might perform because no decisions have been made yet.
“I’d say all of the acts we’re going to do are well known,” he said.
Herring said he had “many emotions” about seeing construction start. “There’s relief, there’s excitement, there’s ‘Oh my gosh, I have another year to get this built,'” he said.
“To see the support, you go through this process, and everyone has an opinion either for or against, and you come to an event like this, the support I see really warms my heart. It makes me feel like it’s all worthwhile.”
