Alpharetta's Encore Park is ready for a closeup

Arts and Culture

Alpharetta's Encore Park is ready for a closeup

Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park nears completion, ready for its Saturday opening with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in concert.

MEDIA MEMBERS and community leaders preview Verizon Amphitheatre at Encore Park during a press conference. The Alpharetta facility opens Saturday with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra playing Broadway's best, as well as pieces by Gershwin and Beethoven.

ORGANIZERS GIVE tours of the stage, which measures 118 feet wide by 67 feet deep by 75 feet high.

FROM THIS ANGLE, the lawn may look small, but it can seat more than 5,000 people.

THE WEST-SIDE PLAZA includes prominent signage, bathrooms, concession stands and lots of trees. In fact, nearly 1,200 hundred trees beautify the Encore Park grounds.

A TOUR GROUP goes backstage to see the dressing rooms.

A WORKER ENSURES that all lighting and sound equipment is in place on the stage.

WORKERS Elli Ventura and Wilman Fernandez dust off the new seats.

COUNTING DOWN: When the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park in Alpharetta officially opens Saturday, concert-goers will have plenty of new stuff to gawk at, and a place to buy tickets for future performances.

SCREENS ARE being built on either side of the stage, and the open area will accommodate table seating.

WORKERS FINISHED installing the 5,000 seats in late April.

THIS ONE'S for the girls: plenty of restroom facilities at Encore Park.

AND A LITTLE something for the guys, too.

PATRONS MILL around the East Plaza in an artist's rendering. The amphitheatre's schedule is already filling up, with big-name acts on the bill throughout the summer. In May, the reunited Eagles will play four nights in Encore Park.

THIS RENDERING shows the view from the grassy expanse beyond the seating area.

WORKERS PAINT handrails leading to the front of the stage, right next to new landscaping.

LIGHT FIXTURES go up on a west-side restroom.

SPARKS FLY AS Jose Puga of Kennesaw cuts metal studs on the stage.

THIS SHOWS a view of the amphitheater from the side of the main entrance.

THIS IS THE VIEW the performers will have as they look out into the audience.

DIRT was poured in April ...

... AND THEN the grading work began on a parking lot.

CREW MEMBERS put the finishing touches (and not-so-finishing touches) on the amphitheater and its grounds.

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MEDIA MEMBERS and community leaders preview Verizon Amphitheatre at Encore Park during a press conference. The Alpharetta facility opens Saturday with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra playing Broadway's best, as well as pieces by Gershwin and Beethoven.

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