According to owner Greg Smith, the Osage Creek Performing Arts Center will be open for rock come summer of 2011.
Dirt work at the site, located on an 856-acre patch of land along Logan Cave Road between Tontitown and Siloam Springs, began in mid-November. The building plans, which include a 5,100-seat amphitheater and a large, grassy area that will accommodate another 10,000 or so concert-goers, cleared the Benton County planning commission on Nov. 18.
A groundbreaking ceremony with the Siloam Springs Chamber of Commerce is scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 2 (Update: The groundbreaking ceremony has been moved to Dec. 9), and Smith said that the first act has already been booked.
“We’ve got a national act signed for July 2011,” Smith told us. “That means we have a seven-month window to complete it. Things are going to start moving really fast.”
Smith said that one of the biggest delays thus far has been getting the road work leading into the remote facility finished up, but that there have been significant developments on that front just in the past few weeks. He expects all the necessary infrastructure improvements to be finished in time for the summer season.
Greg told us that the new venue plans to host between four and six single-day shows a year, and he’s open to all types of large acts. At this point, he said he is not interested in hosting multi-day festivals at the site.
“We hope to have everything from Miley Cyrus to Kid Rock to Stryper here,” Smith said with a laugh. “We want to cater to everyone and bring some great music to Northwest Arkansas.”
