Riverview Park will swing again with $4 million concert venue

A Des Moines park that once hosted concerts by music legends like Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington and The Everly Brothers could soon see musical acts return.

Riverview Park advocates have raised the $4 million needed to build a 6,000-seat outdoor concert venue at the north-side park.

And Variety - The Children's Charity will build a playground inspired by the amusement rides that once thrilled the park's visitors.

"We're ready to build this thing," Des Moines City Councilwoman Linda Westergaard said this week.

Riverview is a nostalgic spot for many Des Moines residents who spent their early years riding roller coasters at the Riverview Amusement Park or attending teen dances and concerts at the Riviera Ballroom.

It "was where you brought your girlfriend. ... This is where I got my first slap in the face!" Polk County Supervisor John Mauro joked during a check presentation this week.

The amusement park opened in 1915 and was modeled after Brooklyn's Coney Island. It closed in 1978, and the Riviera Ballroom burned down in 1980.

The only thing left are some concrete paving stones, but the memories live on for members of the Parks Area Foundation, a nonprofit formed by residents of the north-side Oak Park, Highland Park and Union Park neighborhoods.

The group has been the driving force behind the park restoration project. It has raised $750,000 flipping burgers and selling hot dogs during summer gatherings and secured financial support from the city of Des Moines, Polk County and Prairie Meadows.

Des Moines has dedicated $2.5 million. The city will get five percent of the annual gross revenues starting in 2022, and in return the Parks Area Foundation gets exclusive rights to the park 25 calendar days per year.

"We in the city believe (Riverview Park) has a great potential to be an economic driver in the city once it's built," said Ben Page, director of parks and recreation for the city.

Polk County has promised $250,000 and Prairie Meadows will pay $250,000 to secure naming rights for the stage.

The Prairie Meadow Riviera Stage will be 50 feet long with a 45-foot ceiling. Spiraling steel trusses will rise about 70 feet in the air and pay homage to the Wild Mouse and Coaster amusement rides.

Brent Schipper of Ask Studio in Des Moines won a merit award from the Association of Licensed Architects for the stage's design.

Construction on the music venue is slated for 2019.

Additional plans for a shelter house, playground and concession stand will come later, park advocates says.

Variety plans to raise $750,000 to build a 14,500-square-foot playground.

The equipment will be modeled after former Riverview amusement rides like the Wild Mouse, which opened in 1959. Other items include a Ferris wheel-shaped climbing bars, a miniature fun house and a carousel feature.

"Our playground design company really captured the history, which is so important for Riverview to keep alive," said Sheri McMichael, Variety's executive director.

Like Variety's other playgrounds in Des Moines, the equipment will be accessible to wheelchair users and others with mobility issues.

Riverview Park sits at a bend in the Des Moines River, tucked behind a row of industrial building along Sixth Avenue. Surrounded by water on three sides, the park is accessible only by trails.

The Neal Smith, McHenry Park and Kiwanis Nature Island trails all pass through the park.

Westergaard said Riverview Park has the potential to be the east side's Gray's Lake.

"It's so unique. It offers something that we don't have," she said.

A brief history of Riverview Park

Iowa's "Coney Island" opened June 5, 1915, and charged 5 cents for admission.

Ella Fitzgerald performed at the Riverview Park ballroom in 1938. Two years later the ballroom was turned into a penny arcade when the Riviera Ballroom opened.

During the 1940s, the Riviera hosted jazz legends including Lawrence Welk, Stan Kenton, Glenn Miller and Duke Ellington, among others. It was the home to hundreds of sock hops and teen dances up through the 1960s.

In later years, the ballroom hosted rock and soul concerts featuring the likes of Bobby Vee, The Everly Brothers and Smokey Robinson and the Miracles.

"Everybody who's from Des Moines remembers Riverview because it was the place to go. You could go for a ride for a nickel on Wednesdays," Des Moines Councilwoman Linda Westergaard recalls.

One of Bill Thompson's first jobs is busing tables at the Pine Room restaurant because he could ride his bike from home to the park. He and his wife, Pam, of 53 years had their second date at Riverview.

Thompson is a board member and treasurer of the Park Area Foundation.

"That's one of the reasons that we've been passionate about seeing something done with the site," he said.

Through the years, the park had its ups and downs. There was a fire in 1933 and a flood in 1944 that damaged the amusement park.

It closed in 1978 and Adventureland purchased the park in 1979 and moved some of its rides to the Altoona amusement park.

The land was later sold to the city and in the 1990s the Kiwanis Riverview Nature Island was created.

Neighbors launched the Rendezvous on Riverview summer concerts featuring local bands in 2009 and in 2013 the Parks Area Foundation took over park and began working with the city on revitalization plans.

Iowans' nostalgia for Riverview Park has inspired websites, a book, movies and Facebook groups dedicated to sharing memories of favorite rides like the Tunnel of Love, Tumble Bug and Wild Mouse.