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It’s taken a while, but Sweetland is coming off the city’s red ledger.

During the LaGrange City Council’s annual budget work session, City Manager Patrick Bowie announced that for the first time ever, the city will not be subsidizing Sweetland Amphitheatre’s operations, and the venue is actually expected to make a small profit next year.

Though the amphitheater is run as an enterprise or proprietary fund, making money has never been the only goal for the venue. The city considers it more of an amenity and closer to a park than a profit center. When the city does surveys about what residents want, having things and places to go to are among the top asks, and Sweetland provides just that. Now it’s projected to make money, too.

“Sweetland did really well this year. Brent [Gibbs] and Lizzie Simpson did a fantastic job over there,” Bowie said.

In the FY 2025 budget, the city had to contribute $160,000 from the general fund to make them whole.

“In this proposed budget, they don’t need any subsidies from the city, so that is good news,” Bowie said, explaining that Sweetland is now in the black due to hotel-motel tax product development revenue and their normal revenue coming in. 

“Assuming they don’t undersell, we should be in good shape,” he said.

Bowie said it’s even clearer now what Sweetland is and isn’t making.

“Lizzie and Brent were in the general fund, and they really needed to be paid out of the Sweetland fund, so we could see what Sweetland was actually costing the city to operate,” explained Bowie, saying their salaries were moved to the separate enterprise fund.

Councilman Nathan Gaskin said his understanding is that outdoor amphitheaters don’t make a lot of money, if at all. They are there for tourism dollars.

“There is the potential that we’re the first ones to do it,” Gaskin said.

Gibbs notes that even without bringing in money, Sweetland provides a service to the city. Not only does it bring in tourism dollars, but it frequently hosts free events for residents. It’s an asset to the city beyond any money that it does or doesn’t bring in.

But everyone at City Hall is still hoping Sweetland remains in the black.