FORT MYERS, Fla. — A lingering question in Downtown Fort Myers, is the amphitheater under used?
"When they did build it, they had a lot of momentum," said Aaron Estes, a Fort Myers resident. "It's like when a new movie theater gets built, everybody is excited because it has new seats and stuff, but soon the novelty wears off."
Aaron told Fox 4's Briana Brownlee she had had high hopes for the amphitheater, but as time goes on she wishes there were more concerts from local artists. She isn't the only one who feels this way.
“I feel there hasn’t been as many as I thought it would be," said Lucilia Sangiovann.
Sangiovann said she wishes there were more events. The Caloosa Sound Amphitheater's website shows there are two events listed.
"The city gets 10 days that we can use it, we do share those with when they are community events," said Mayor Kevin Anderson. "We do share them when we can. Other than that it’s the Luminary’s responsibility.”
The Caloosa Sound Amphitheater opened in 2021. It’s owned by the city, however the city of Fort Myers has a long standing agreement with the Luminary to manage the events.
"From the city’s standpoint we would like to see more events at that amphitheater," Anderson said.
Anderson told Fox 4 he has been in talks with The Luminary to increase the number of events.
"We have a lot in the pipeline so we are super excited to host the events that we got booked," Luminary Special Events Manager Katie Wendorf said.
Wendorf said since the theater opened back in 2021, the Luminary hosted 10 events including a major one after Hurricane Ian.
When asked in the future will the Luminary try to have more events, Wendorf said she’s interested but there are hurdles.
"One of the challenges with booking more dates at the amphitheater is that we are seasonal," Wendorf said. "We don’t want to run the risk of hosting an event in August in the middle of the afternoon when it’s more than likely going to get rain out. So it’s hard that we got those black out dates.”
Friday, February 9, "The Players" will perform at the venue, with former members of Chicago and Earth, Wind and Fire.
