Ground broken on amphitheater at Taggert Memorial

Indianapolis to transform Taggart Memorial amphitheater at Riverside Park

News 8 at 5 p.m.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A local park is getting a makeover.

Riverside park is one of the largest municipal parks in the country. City leaders want to transform the memorial named after Thomas Taggart, a Democrat who was a former Indianapolis mayor and U.S. senator.

The Taggart Memorial will become an outdoor performance venue that holds up to 2,000 people.

Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett said Monday at a groundbreaking, “Well, the Lilly Endowment’s contribution of over $9 million to repurpose this Thomas Taggart Memorial is really the very first step in the entire rebirth of the Riverside neighborhood and the Riverside community, so it’s a celebration of a beginning, not an end. It truly is the first step toward a revitalization of this entire important green space for the city of Indianapolis.”

The Taggart amphitheater is set to open in summer 2020.