Ceremony unveils new Riverwalk Amphitheater as part of downtown revitalization

The ribbon was officially cut Friday evening on the new Riverwalk Amphitheater in downtown Salisbury.  This comes just in time for the National Folk Festival, which is set to come to down in the beginning of September.

"Without those space, good gathering spaces for, that we can set up musicians, dance, art, performers, without those spaces we wouldn't have been able to host this event," said Salisbury Mayor Jake Day.

The National Folk Festival will be the first large-scale event to christen the venue along the river.  

Following the Folk Festival, the venue will be a permanent spot for the public's use.

"We saw this as a key piece of the revitalization of our city, and I think the reason for that is people see the people see the music, the arts, gathering spaces.  Those are all part of how you get economic growth," said Day.

"Before it was a parking lot, and now it is a green space that the whole entire community can use.  There can be, there's already been a wedding here," said Chris Eccleston, the president of Delmarva Veteran Builders.  "There will be church services, There'll be non-profit events."

One resident we spoke with compared one of his favorite cities to what downtown has the potential to be.

"One of my favorite cities in the world is San Antonio with their riverwalk.   I always thought no reason why Salisbury couldn't follow in those footsteps," said Lloyd Unsell, the Deputy Mayor of Delmar, Md., and a regular visitor to downtown Salisbury.

The National Council for Traditional Arts says with this new space, the estimated economic impact of drawing more performers and artists will be over $100 million a year by 2021.