Levitt AMP Middlesboro Pop-up Park – Middlesboro, Kentucky
The roots of the Levitt AMP Middlesboro concerts were in a gravel parking lot in the heart of a downtown. Both had seen better days.
April 2, 2013, 11:03 a.m. Rick’s Shaved Ice prepares to open for the first time.
April 5, 2013, 5:20 p.m. Volunteers, family and friends help with hanging the sign for the first time.
September 30, 2013, 1:04 p.m. When I took this picture it did not look like much. The structures near the middle of the photo were from a farmer’s market that no longer was in operation. Nature was gradually reclaiming the gravel. What is invisible is how community leaders had already begun work over a year-long period on a strategic plan. Less than a month later that would all be demonstrated during the first of what would become three Better Block events where over a weekend dozens of low-cost rapid changes were made to a single block to demonstrate the possibility of future change. One project form this $25,000 community planning event was building a simple platform stage on what would become the future Levitt lot.
September 30, 2013, 1:06 p.m.
September 30, 2013, 1:08 p.m.
October 2, 2013, 1:59 p.m. Rick’s Shaved Ice made use of the front part of the lot.
October 26, 2013, 5:01 p.m. A simple sixteen by sixteen foot wood platform had been built a week or two prior on the site.
March 12, 2015, 7:16 p.m. One of many organizational meetings at The Palace, preparing for the upcoming Levitt concerts.
July 13, 2015, 10:29 a.m. We had finished most of our work but not yet hosted the first concert.
April 16, 2015, 7:55 a.m. We closed off the back of the lot in preparation for the stage build. The earlier platform stage can be seen to the right, as can be seen the farmer’s market sheds to the left.
April 18, 2015, 1:15 p.m. One of many volunteer build days. Here the early platform stage had an apron added that effectively doubled its size. The grass had not quite yet come in.
April 18, 2015, 2:55 p.m. The front of the lot is transformed through painting of the shed and preparing it for concerts.
April 18, 2015, 4:52 p.m. Volunteers gathered after a strenuous but successful work day. Note a few people to the left wearing the Build a Better Block Middlesborough t-shirts from 2013.
April 20, 2015, 7:50 a.m. The lot continues to come together. No stage house has been built yet, but a farmer’s market shed is show demolished in the foreground.
August 1, 2015, 1:02 p.m.
August 1, 2015, 7:00 p.m. Opening night of the first Levitt concert on the lot.
August 15, 2015, 6:57 p.m.
March 18, 2016, 11:28 a.m. The lot was ready for the start of a second season. The stage house to the rear from the first season is still standing.
June 30, 2016, 7:29 p.m. A small group gets together to hear musicians play on the stage one last time.
July 11, 2016, 3:23 p.m. The stage house is down and footings are being installed for the new stage canopy before start of the second season.
July 25, 2016, 9:30 a.m. It’s controlled chaos on the lot with salvaged materials separated and work on the stage canopy yet to begin.
July 25, 2016, 12:09 p.m. A crane places the main truss in place between the front posts. With this the rest of the framework fits together fairly seamlessly.
July 27, 2016, 7:11 a.m. Rafters and purlins go in to carry the stage overhead.
July 29, 2016, 10:43 a.m. Roofing gets completed and the new stage is coming together nicely.
July 30, 2016, 9:25 p.m. One of the main acts as the concert on the new stage is wrapping up.
August 13, 2016, 8:55 p.m. Another act on the lot with the finished stage done.
August 16, 2016, 8:35 a.m. Another morning on the lot without many changes to the front since starting.
August 20, 2016, 8:35 p.m. View of the lot from the second floor of The Palace.
October 1, 2016, 7:34 p.m. Grammy award winning artist Grady Champion plays the closing night on the Levitt lot. This was the final night of organizing the series before signing off and passing the work on to a dedicated group of volunteers, many of whom helped to get the concerts started. Little did we know that 10 years later they would still be going strong.