HISTORY OF THE FORT WALLA WALLA AMPHITHEATER

A historical biography of the Fort Walla Walla Amphitheater as recounted in programs for shows produced by the Walla Walla Community College Foundation.

In the summer of 1966, Governor Dan Evans proclaimed a state "Festival of the Arts" to coincide with an exhibit of Tessai paintings from our sister state of Hyogo Province in Japan. To display and promote this exhibit when it arrived in Walla Walla, an organization of women was formed. The late Mrs. Ralph Stevens was elected president and suggested that the exhibits be expanded to add a Japanese artist, a calligraphy class, and a Japanese musical concert to make it a "Summer Happening." It was successful and Summerfest, an annual event, was proposed.

A variety of successful activities were presented under the auspices of Summerfest, and then the idea of an outdoor drama for Walla Walla and the construction of an Amphitheater were posed.

When Borghild Nelson moved to the Walla Walla Valley, she fell in love with the story of Narcissa and Marcus Whitman and the settlers who tamed the west. To coincide with the Bicentennial in 1976, theater lovers proposed the idea of producing a Trails West pageant. The county chapter of the U.S. Bicentennial Commission, chaired by Mrs. Stevens, enthusiastically embraced the project.

Several locations for the theater were examined and rejected before the final site at Fort Walla Walla Park was chosen. Barry Moore, a Houston architect specializing in outdoor amphitheaters, was brought to Walla Walla, shown the site, and given an outline of the drama Trails West to read. Mr. Moore drew three tentative designs. Playwright Bill Gulick and local architect Gerald Mosman were responsible for choosing the Amphitheater design that best suited the production. Once the design was chosen, Mosman focused attention on details of the Amphitheater and its support buildings.

Ground was broken October 29, 1974. Since funds were meager, every dollar was stretched as far as possible. Many individuals, companies, and governmental bodies contributed ideas, time, materials, and money toward building the Amphitheater. Walla Walla Community College students surveyed and staked the parking area while it was cleared and graded by the city. The county provided and surfaced the access road. Grants were received from state and federal governments.

Colonel Nelson Conover, then in charge of the Walla Walla District of the Corps of Engineers, suggested that a savings could be made by constructing the seating levels of the Amphitheater with used railroad ties. Norm McKibben, then regional manager of the Peter Kiewit Company of Omaha, secured railroad ties from an abandoned railroad spur near the Lower Granite Dam pool on the Snake River.

McKibben then loaned a bulldozer and an employee and by December 1974 the bowl of the Amphitheater was beginning to take shape. At this time, work was suspended because of winter weather and a shortage of funds. (The weather wasn't that bad, but the shortage of funds was serious.)

Utilizing donated materials and equipment volunteers then began to rototill, seed, fertilize, and water the eight-acre parking area.

By mid-October funds were exhausted and once again work was suspended. The Trails West committee went to Seattle on December 5, 1975 to apply for a federal grant from the regional Economic Development Administration. They were granted $200,000 with the provision they match the funds within 45 days. Despite several other money-raising campaigns in progress at the time, the Trails West committee decided to tackle the enormous task of raising $200,000. With only two days remaining of the 45-day E.D.A. timeline, the committee managed to raise $85,000 at which time the Walla Walla City Council voted to contribute $25,000. The Economic Development Administration matched the acquired funds of $110,000 producing a grand total of $220,000. The grant was approved March 11, 1976, and construction workers and the actors often found themselves inextricably mixed.

The cost of the completed facility totaled in the neighborhood of $486,000, with a substantial donation from Louisiana Pacific of timber and mill facilities. Twelve of the company's employees donated a morning's work to mill the timbers used for the Amphitheater buildings.

The Amphitheater seats approximately 1400 patrons, and is 72 feet from the last row to the front of the stage, which makes it a reasonably intimate outdoor theater. The main stage is approximately 24' x 78' and there are two side stages.

A number of improvements to the Amphitheater have been made over the years including enhancement of the sound system, replacement of the tie timber steps with concrete, replacement of the stages, and renovating the cast house.

After the performances of Trails West were suspended in 1981, the WWCC Foundation sponsored the Outdoor Summer Musical at Fort Walla Walla Amphitheater, every year except 1984.

The final Summer Musical produced by the WWCC Foundation was Fiddler on the Roof in 2014.

The Fort Walla Walla Amphitheater has been largely abandoned since.