And that's how Rossford broke Erin's heart

It's like this big, lonely, quiet waste. My first two years of college, I lived right by this amphitheater-wannabe in Rossford (relatively speaking, it's Toledo). It was on the way to pretty much everything my roommate and I drove to, and each time we'd pass it, we'd say how cool it'd be to actually have a live-music venue so close to the apartment. Toledo really doesn't have an outdoor venue of that kind (well, International Park, maybe, but ... no).

And which big bands showed up? Which festivals crowded it? None, nothing. It just stood there.

The (Toledo) Blade says it's going on an auction block this Thursday, if you happen to have some money lying around and don't know what to do with it.

Mark Zuchowski, who served as Rossford's mayor from 1991 to 2003, and other elected officials envisioned a 15,000-seat, open-air amphitheater to rival the DTE Energy Music Theatre near Clarkston, Mich. Next to the Rossford amphitheater would be a 12,000-seat arena that would house a professional hockey team. The complex was expected to open in 2000 and haul in millions of dollars of business profit and taxes each year.
Though the project seemed on target for months, it never could land a favorable bond rating. Even so, construction began with "temporary" loans that still have not been paid.
Work stopped in late 1999 for lack of funds, though construction on the amphitheater was 20 percent complete.

But, in a much smaller community ...


Oshkosh has the Leach, which brings in small, has-been artists, and some good ones, too ("good" means "still on top-# lists, Grammy-winners," not "artists on Erin's iPod"). Lyle Lovett's coming, Gin Blossoms were just here, Dierks Bentley's coming, Staind and Trapt (oh, yeah, baby, greasy-haired rock!) are coming, the guys from "Viva La Bam" ... and Toledo/Rossford didn't want this? Couldn't find a way to work? Why?

In an abrupt telephone interview, Mr. Langevin blamed prejudice against Rossford. He said conventional wisdom of detractors was that such a grand vision was "not supposed to happen in Rossford, Ohio."

And it can happen in Oshkosh, Wisconsin??

I still feel a bit slighted, and I don't even live there anymore. (And no, it's not just because I would've had to go to Michigan for concerts.) It's because, dang, that would've been so sweet. It's near three colleges (and a few small ones that I can't really think of to count). A few big suburbs. Growing area. YOU GUYS COULD GET A BASS PRO SHOP BUT NOT COMPLETE YOUR AMPHITHEATER? Rossford, Rossford, Rossford. You're breaking my heart.


If I had a few million lying around, I'd buy it. But, alas, I'm just that girl who used to drive by it while going to the community college, a few years before she was the girl going to work in a few hours at a journalism job. Not really a millionaire. Yet, anyhow.

(Photo: The Blade file photo, and The Northwestern file photos)