Once complete, the amphitheater will consist of a wooden bandshell northeast of McClintock Park’s existing pavilion, according to Clerk/Treasurer Paula Willoughby. A small parking lot is also included in the development, she said, along with some trail work to accommodate the new space.

Wednesday, Willoughby, who has been a driving force in the project from the beginning, helping the city to secure thousands of grant dollars in support of the initiative, said she was overwhelmed by the amount of community support for the groundbreaking.

“It’s really cool,” Willoughby said. “To have all these people come out and support us, a lot of these people have been with us since the beginning in 2001 or 2002 when we kind of just started dreaming this would ever happen. It’s awesome.”

The amphitheater was put out for bids in January after the city secured approximately $472,061 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding, as well as $49,375 in Community Assistance funds from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) — $521,436 total — to finance the project.

After receiving bids from Woodhull Construction — $694,046.22 — and Laux Construction — $721,439.90 — the city found itself in a difficult spot, however, as each bid was more than $170,000 over budget.

To close the funding gap, the city opted to make several alterations to the original design, including scrapping a cement seating area and reducing the size of the band shell. That still left about $100,000 cost overrun.

Determined to see the project through, the Laingsburg City Council voted unanimously May 4 to allocate up to $100,000 to support the project, setting a “not-to-exceed” budget of $539,000.

The council unanimously approved a contract with Woodhull Construction May 11.

Shiawassee Economic Development Partnership President/CEO Justin Horvath, who was on hand Wednesday, said the amphitheater will assist the county in addressing one of its key problems — acquiring talent.

“Our businesses are hiring, we need more people, we need more workers, and what that means is you need to create communities that attract talent, that attract people,” Horvath said. “Building an amphitheater in a beautiful community park in Laingsburg makes Laingsburg a more attractive place for people to want to live and work and play. I love to see it because I think it’s going to help bring more people to the community, they’re going to spend money here, spend in the downtown, hopefully it’ll make them want to move here. That’ll grow our labor force and help our economy.”

McClintock Park hosts a variety of events and activities each year, including a summer concert series and movie screenings.

City officials have been working for more than 10 years to make widespread improvements to McClintock — once home to a dilapidated playground, combination tennis/basketball court and a softball field.

The amphitheater will sit a little bit higher than the audience once completed, according to Willoughby.

Construction is expected to wrap up this fall, she said, though there are a few question marks regarding when project materials will arrive because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Nonetheless, Willoughby said she’s looking forward to watching the space come to life, noting its potential to generate widespread economic benefits to the city as a whole.

“We’re hoping it spurs economic development, that we get people into town for the entertainment and that they visit all of our local establishments and that we can all support each other through these programs,” Willoughby said. “All of our community, they won’t have to leave town to go to a play or go to a music event, and then not only that, we’ll get people in town. We can draw some people from outside in.”