The Dillon Town Council is considering a new policy that would better define what types of religious, political or private business groups are – or aren’t – allowed to use the Dillon Amphitheater.

Dillon Town Manager Nathan Johnson said during a town council work session last Tuesday, April 9, that the town has allowed the Dillon Community Church to use the amphitheater for services for years but other groups have also asked to use the venue.

“As you all know, our Dillon Amphitheater is widely popular,” Johnson said. “We have a lot of different interest groups that are looking to use the facility … The obstacle we’re running into is we’re being contacted by other religious affiliations, political groups, corporate businesses, private individuals, etc., to use the facility.”

Dillon events and recreations director Jessie Klehfoth noted that the town’s amphitheater already hosts a busy schedule with events often scheduled 5 or 6 days a week. So, there are not a lot of openings in the calendar to schedule more events at the amphitheater, Klehfoth said.

For concerts or events like town markets, the town will partner or sponsor the event and support it with staffing and other help, Klehfoth said. But with outside groups – including religious entities – hoping to use the amphitheater, it might not be appropriate for the town to sponsor the event, she said.

“There are a lot of other groups out there that I hear from that want to be in (the amphitheater),” Klehfoth said. “I don’t know as a town that we’re comfortable being a sponsor or partner of that event because that might start to cross the lines of political or religious affiliations, even private corporations.”

Town council member Dana Christiansen noted that the town has allowed Dillon Community Church to use the amphitheater for decades and that some of the other entities asking to use the amphitheater are located in Dillon. 

Christiansen said he thinks that the Dillon-based entities should get preferential treatment for use of the amphitheater. He also added that because the Dillon Community Church provides a food bank in town, it is providing a service to the town that the government should reciprocate.

“It’s the Dillon Amphitheater, not the Summit County Amphitheater,” Christiansen said.

But Johnson said that the conversation “is not specific to the Community Church” but is instead about how to balance the various requests the town has received for use of the amphitheater. He noted, for example, that a Jewish synagogue based in Dillon has requested to use the venue for various purposes.

Mayor Carolyn Skowyra said that there is a real possibility for “a snowball” effect because of how the town has allowed one entity to use the amphitheater while not allowing other entities to use it.

Skowyra said the main criteria for an outside entity to use the amphitheater should be that the event must be open to the public and “community centered.” For example, the town might be willing to let a local school put on a graduation ceremony at the amphitheater or for a local performing arts group to put on a performance there, she said.

“I don’t think it should be limited to just Dillon Community Church,” Skowyra said. “I think it should be more of an open, fair system.”

Council member Kyle Hendricks said that he doesn’t think that political events should be held at the amphitheater – and some other council members agreed. However, council member John Woods said he would be willing to let a political campaign pay the town to use the amphitheater for a political rally.

Christiansen noted that Dillon Community Church personnel have been trained to use the expensive soundsystem at the amphitheater but questioned whether the town would want to let other groups use the sound system.

Hendricks suggested that any group that is allowed to use the amphitheater not be allowed to use the sound system without technical assistance from town staff.

Carolyn asked town staff to start looking into what the costs would be for an outside group to use the amphitheater – including staff time to operate the sound system – and to draft a policy for further discussion.

Dillon Town Attorney Kathleen Kelly noted that there are legal considerations related to drafting a policy like this but that she has to do more research to have a better understanding of about how the amphitheater has been used over the years.

“There are some considerations from a Constitutional standpoint,” Kelly said. “I’m reluctant to give an off the cuff answer because I don’t fully understand how the (amphitheater) has been used, by who, under what conditions.”