With construction workers plotting pylons and a massive mound of sculpted dirt and clay looming in the background, Tuscaloosa City Council members and others hefted golden shovels to officially break ground on the amphitheater project Tuesday morning.

'Memories are going to be made, hearts will be touched and souls will be stirred by the new Tuscaloosa amphitheater,' said Mayor Walt Maddox.

Maddox, Gary Weinberger of Red Mountain Entertainment, council members Bobby Howard and Lee Garrison and others spoke at a celebration that included a color guard from the Tuscaloosa Police Department, invocation by Pastor Chris Denson of Forest Lake United Methodist Church and the national anthem played by saxophonist Lloyd Watson Jr., all under a tent erected next to the work site.

Traffic clicked by overhead on Hugh Thomas bridge and industrial fans hummed, trying to keep the assembled crowd of about 100 cool. Emcee Pam Penick, executive director of the Arts and Humanities Council of Tuscaloosa, noted the facility will have the largest seating capacity for cultural events in the area, and will serve many uses, not only for touring musical acts, but also for local artists, festivals and community projects.

'Speaking on behalf of the arts groups in this community — and there are 40 some — this is greatly needed,' she said.

Maddox thanked many who pushed for the project, including Bob Almon of Almon Associates engineering firm, who the mayor called 'grandfather of the riverfront,' and Garrison, who has been instrumental in riverfront implementation. Garrison in turn thanked Mary Ann Phelps, who chaired the first riverfront committee, and Leroy McAbee, who the councilman said urged him on by saying 'Come on, son! Just get behind the plow and let's build it!'

Weinberger, a Tuscaloosa native whose company will program and run the facility, has seen others built, including Oak Mountain Amphitheatre, now Live Nation, which his earlier New Era company built and ran. He praised the team that is putting the project together.

'This is overwhelming. It's magnificent,' he said, looking at the site, landscaped by Blakeney Co. over 45 days, laying the way for Harrison Construction to begin the above-ground work. Opening is scheduled for just a little more than a year away, August 2010. Weinberger didn't know yet what the first act or acts would be, but said, 'It's not going to be an opening night, it's going to be an opening season.'

Making the amphitheater cook will be a community effort on many levels, he said, drawing on local arts groups, University of Alabama students, faculty and more. The venue can give back to the community not only with entertainment, but behind the scenes as hands-on training for those wishing to learn marketing, management, production and theater, he added.