Another summer comes and goes with no events on Carter Barron stage

The 1960s were the heyday of Rock Creek Park’s Carter Barron Amphitheatre. Diana Ross & the Supremes, Stevie Wonder and Ella Fitzgerald were among the musical acts highlighted in a May 12, 1968, article in The Washington Post previewing the upcoming summer slate. Over the years, the number of events — and the prominence of the featured performers — dwindled amid some ebbs and flows, but since March 2017 the amphitheater has been closed altogether due to the need for extensive repairs.

The National Park Service determined at the time that the structure wasn’t strong enough to handle the weight of performers and equipment onstage. Initial repair cost estimates ranged from $460,000 to $620,000. The most recent renovation of the amphitheater was completed in 2004, though the project focused primarily on rebuilding the seating area.

National Park Service spokesperson Jenny Anzelmo-Sarles said the necessary overhaul is not expected to take place until 2020 or 2021. The National Park Service awarded a design contract this fall after receiving funding for that phase.

Built with native limestone and seating for up to 5,000 attendees, the open-air outdoor theater debuted in 1950 as part of celebrations for the city’s 150th birthday. Originally called the Sesquicentennial Amphitheatre, it was renamed a year later, just months after civic leader and Sesquicentennial Commission vice chair Carter T. Barron passed away at the age of 44. At the rededication, President Harry Truman spoke and Academy Award-winning screen actor Walter Pidgeon read a eulogy for Barron, according to a Washington Post article published in May 26, 1951.

“The Carter Barron Amphitheatre is important for its role bringing art and culture to the people of DC in a beautiful outdoor setting,” said Anzelmo-Sarles.

Although the venue was once the city’s major summer dance facility, few dance companies were featured there from 1968 to 1976. In an attempt to re-establish itself as a variety showplace after years of mostly R&B and Top-40 acts, the venue hosted John Prine, Richard Pryor and Bruce Springsteen in 1975.

At the time, Jack Boyle, who took over the contract for the amphitheater with Bill Washington, told The Post, “The Carter Barron is once again a viable facility drawing a broad spectrum audience … [with a] summer [that] has marked a change in the Carter Barron’s image.”

By 1980, The Post further reported that the theater was struggling to compete with nearby outdoor facilities, such as the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Virginia and the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Maryland. At that point, the Carter Barron Amphitheatre began to lower its ticket prices, since it wasn’t able to draw higher-priced acts.

In 2013, the National Park Service ceased employing an outside contractor to book national acts. Since then, attendance has been free of charge. In 2014, construction and administrative issues caused a delay in the start of the venue’s season to August. More recently, in 2016, The Washington Post ended its two-decades-long concert series at the Carter Barron Amphitheatre.

According to Anzelmo-Sarles, the venue averaged six to seven shows per year from 2013 to 2016, with a schedule that featured go-go and reggae musical acts, as well as several movie showings. The site also hosted the annual DC Poetry Festival.

“Although the original vision was to have a long-running pageant that would draw in attendees from around the world, the amphitheater had a more successful run as a music venue geared toward the local community,” said Anzelmo-Sarles. “The popularity of this form of entertainment is clear through the success of other outdoor music venues including Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts.”

One of the biggest backers of funding for renovation of the Carter Barron Amphitheatre has been Ward 4 DC Council member Brandon Todd, whose district includes the site and the surrounding neighborhoods. Support also comes from the Friends of Carter Barron Foundation of the Performing Arts, a group that launched in 1991 to preserve the Carter Barron Amphitheatre and expand art educational initiatives for DC youth.

“I’ve written letters in support of the Friends’ grant funding requests and remained a consistent adviser and supporter for their cause,” Todd said. “I am delighted that the federal government realizes that Carter Barron is a priority and has allocated design funding to advance the project.

“I will closely follow the work and look forward to Carter Barron Amphitheatre reopening and resuming its vital function as a place where neighbors come together to build community through enjoying the arts and culture,” said Todd.

Just this month, the Rock Creek Conservancy announced its new Carter Barron Project to collect public input in preparation for a future rehabilitation project. “We’re collecting stories and opinions from the D.C. area and we will be creating a community report that we will share with the National Park Service as they finalize their decisions,” the group’s website says.

Included on the project’s webpage is a Spotlify playlist of recording artists who once graced the amphitheater’s stage. Along with The Kingston Trio, Louis Armstrong and Ray Charles, among many others, are Diana Ross & the Supremes, Stevie Wonder and Ella Fitzgerald, the 1968 headliners.