The Suquamish Tribe of Kitsap County, Washington is exploring opening a new entertainment venue through its development arm Port Madison Enterprises (PME).
The Suquamish Clearwater Casino hosts summer lawn concerts that attract boats near the stage and indoor concerts during the cooler months. For the upcoming summer PME plans to host the what it hopes will be larger concerts at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds, bringing in Creedence Clearwater Revisited and Dwight Yoakum. In July it will host an outdoor show at the Thunderbird Stadium.
These will be the first of a series of concerts at the fairgrounds over several years. The experience it gains it hopes to use to help plan a new entertainment venue, such as an amphitheater.
PME CEO Samuel Askew told the Kitsap Sun, “All that data allows us to really sit down and make a better plan of what we need, when we need it. We may find out that we do need an amphitheater that can hold a larger number of people, along with camping and so forth. We may find that we need an indoor venue that’s of the size of the pavilion here.”
The tribe is looking at several possible options, such as an amphitheater or entertainment center, or even a family gaming complex. It is also looking at several target markets.
PME board President Greg George noted that other casinos are shifting from all gaming to a more diversified approach. “I’d like to see us be the entertainment place for Kitsap County and Jefferson County,” he told the Sun. “We can make it an entertainment place not just for people who want to game, but who want to have dinner and see a country show or a pop show.”
The tribe previously purchased the former Northwest College of Art and Design campus and is studying proposals for repurposing the site.
Reportedly the tribe plans to build something there within five years. That would be contingent upon feasibility studies and consultations with local authorities and state officials since the land isn’t sovereign tribal land.
