The amphitheater in the municipal park on Tyrankiewiczów Street is currently being renovated. But we have another one as well – the one on Spacerowa Street, on the grounds of the Water and Sports Centre of the Municipal Sports and Recreation Centre. The problem is that since the scandal at a blues-rock concert in 2008, the venue has not fulfilled its primary function. Events are no longer held there; it is mainly used by tennis players. Why did this happen? “The decision to renovate the amphitheater on the boulevard along the Bóbr River was made thanks to the organizers of the Blues nad Bobrem Festival and Krystyna Juszkiewicz,” Dariusz Jośko, then director of the Municipal Sports and Recreation Centre, tells “ii.” Dariusz Jośko. “The project for this investment fell into my hands. It was supposed to cost PLN 760,000, and the venue itself was to be unfenced and unsupervised, because a fence could not be built there due to the Bóbr valley. I concluded then that the grounds of the Water and Sports Centre on Spacerowa Street would be a better location. I proposed a multifunctional, fenced venue with complete facilities. I convinced the city authorities to adopt this concept.”
“All in all, an amphitheater was built that cost the City only PLN 100,000, because we obtained European Union funding, and the entire venue was less than PLN 300,000 more expensive than the one that was supposed to be built on the boulevard along the Bóbr River,” D. Jośko continues. “Today, when someone asks me whether it was worth it, I answer that it was – if only because of the courts. The surface alone cost much more than PLN 100,000.”
According to the former head of MOSiR, if the amphitheater had been built on the boulevard, it would now only be deteriorating. “I believe that would have been completely unnecessary spending, whereas at least the venue on Spacerowa is used by tennis players and preschoolers,” adds Dariusz Jośko. “In the 1980s, people came from all over Poland and had no problem walking a little to a concert, because there were few such events. Today, people want everything close at hand, which is why the City holds events exclusively in the centre. That is only natural. Ticketed outdoor events are no longer organized, because what would be the point? Who would attend them when, within a single season, many free concerts by major artists are held within 50 kilometres of Bolesławiec? The amphitheater on Spacerowa at least still serves a purpose. The one on the boulevard would no longer function at all.”
Krystyna Juszkiewicz, organizer of the Blues nad Bobrem Festival, holds an entirely different opinion. “Mr Jośko and Mr Karol Stasik [then deputy mayor of Bolesławiec – editor’s note by ‘ii’] tried to prove to me that it was a flood-prone area. Mr Jośko therefore decided to move the venue to the swimming pools, believing that this would meet more needs. I said then that if it was going to be a venue for everything, it would be good for nothing,” says K. Juszkiewicz. “Besides, what they built is not an amphitheater; it is half a stadium.”
According to the BnB organizer, concerts at this venue could not be successful. “The audience is so far from the stage that the performer has no contact with it. Under such conditions, no artist can give a good concert,” Krystyna Juszkiewicz points out. “It is true that several events were held there, but chairs had to be brought from Jelenia Góra and placed closer to the stage, on the floor. So why build an amphitheater if chairs still have to be brought in?! Only the courts proved successful there.”
The organizer of numerous blues concerts wanted the amphitheater to be built on the boulevard along the Bóbr River, where BnB began. “Many people feel a great deal of sentiment for that place. The late Tadeusz Nalepa was very fond of it,” she emphasizes. “The fact that events are now held only in the centre is an attempt to justify the decision ideologically. The boulevard is not that far from the centre. It could have been an amphitheater suited to Bolesławiec’s potential.”
Krystyna Juszkiewicz recalls that the main argument against locating the venue on the Bóbr River was that it was a flood-prone area. “Since then, thank God, the area has not flooded even once,” concludes the BnB organizer. “It was a missed opportunity. We wanted to create excellent conditions for holding ticketed events. I think many wonderful concerts would have taken place there. Now, instead, spectacles are staged so that people can drink beer, listen to artists for free and vote.”
What do you think? Would you attend ticketed concerts if they were held in an exceptionally picturesque location? We invite you to join the discussion.