Merritt Park – Amphitheatre Construction

In April of 2009, Miller began construction of the Merrit Park amphitheatre in Welland, Ontario. The 750 seat, Natural amphitheatre was cut into the east bank of the Welland Recreational Waterway, serving as a permanent seating facility for local musical and theatrical events.

The amphitheatre was initially designed with dimensionally cut natural stone benches with two 530 mm (21”) Redi-Rock® retaining walls on each end of the seating. Working with the site owner and the general contractor, the project was redesigned to have Redi-Rock as the benches. Miller Concrete custom made 457mm (18”) deep bottom retaining blocks, without knobs, to form the base of the benches.

Those blocks were topped with 150 mm (6”) high caps. 1,099 blocks were installed between April and June of 2009, providing the owner with their desired height while providing a slight overhang for comfort which the natural stone could not provide. The shoreline wall was also redesigned to include two rows Redi-Rock blocks, thus providing a consistent look from the Welland Canal.