Construction Begins On Oswego's New Outdoor Entertainment Venue

OSWEGO, IL — Construction has begun on Oswego's new outdoor entertainment venue located on three acres of land at the north end of Station Drive, near the Park N Ride lot and future Metra station. Village President Troy Parlier announced that work has begun on the $750,000 project, during his annual State of the Village address Wednesday.

The venue will be constructed in two phases. The first phase includes a 40-foot by 60-foot band shell with basic sound and lighting, plus seeded green space so that residents and visitors can bring lawn chairs and enjoy performances. The second phase will include semi-permanent seating, a playground, landscape enhancements, walkways, restrooms and concession stand, art installations, entryway pavers, and functional and aesthetic improvements to the band shell.

Parlier said during the address that the contractor bids for the project came in $100,000 under what the village had estimated earlier, and so they can now make some upgrades and add features to the facility. The land on which the venue is being built was donated to the village in 2019 by Kevin Fialko, owner of the adjoining Oswego Junction Shopping Center.

"Imagine the permanent stage, rolling lawns, weeping willows, green space for the community to gather for great events such as weddings, graduations, anniversaries, and one of my wife’s favorites –Shakespeare in the Park, school dances and national acts," Fialko had said last year. "There are great possibilities for this venue space."

Under terms of the village’s donation agreement with Fialko, the village is required to develop a venue for outdoor live performance and music entertainment and events to be enjoyed by the public on the site within three years. The project is designed to draw development interest to the Orchard Road corridor on Oswego’s west side and has the support of Metra officials as a complementary use of the land adjacent to a planned station, village officials said.

"The project fit the bill for what we were looking for,” Parlier said last year, recounting how the project came to be. "It was leveraging existing infrastructure, and it was cost effective. It helped cement our future train stop with Metra. It creates economic activity along Orchard Road, which has long been dormant, and it creates a gathering place for our community to see the talent of our community."

During Wednesday’s State of the Village address Parlier presented an updated design for the venue that includes extra features resulting from the favorable bids the village received.

"What you see here is a lot like what you’re going to see," he said. "It's not going to be the stripped-down model we were proposing and then add on every year. We were able to apply a lot of that and put a lot of nice things around this venue."

The project is fully funded thanks to a year-end surplus in the village’s budget as well as $238,000 in capital grants from the state, secured by State Reps. Mark Batinick and Keith Wheeler. Parlier also said that Oswego-based Schoppe Design has donated $33,700 in landscape architecture services above their contract, and local developer Angelo Kleronomos spearheaded the effort to bring in topsoil, clay, grass and rock to the project, lessening the cost.

Village Trustee Terry Olson also contributed to the project through the transport of construction materials to the site. Both Olson and Kleronomos have contributed between $50,000 and $100,000 to the entertainment venue, Parlier said.

The entertainment venue is expected to open July 1 with the first performance scheduled for August.

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