NASHVILLE, Ind. (AP) — A southern Indiana tourist mecca is moving ahead with plans for an indoor performing arts center that local officials hope will lure visitors back to its once thriving arts-and-music village.
Brown County officials will break ground Tuesday on the $12.5 million Maple Leaf Performing Arts Center on the west side of Nashville.
The county-funded project is scheduled to open next summer with a 2,000-seat indoor performance space.
The (Bloomington) Herald-Times reports that Brown County has struggled to regain the tourist base that was once secured by the community's Little Nashville Opry, which was destroyed by a 2009 arson fire.
That venue brought big-name country and western performers to the town for decades, including Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Charley Pride and the Oak Ridge Boys.