Oqwa’titek Amphitheatre

CLIENT: Town of Annapolis Royal

The Oqwa’titek Amphitheatre sits in the heart of Annapolis Royal. As a local business, Brown Bros. felt a strong commitment to this special project. “We knew how important it was, not only to the Town of Annapolis Royal but to the surrounding communities including Bear River First Nation,” explained President Donnie Brown. The site holds deep connections to the thousands of years of history of the people who lived on this land starting with the indigenous peoples, and followed by Acadian, French, Scottish, British and African Nova Scotian settlers, New England Planters and Loyalists.

The amphitheatre overlooks the scenic Annapolis River and seats approximately 140.

The timeframe from go-ahead to finish was extremely short. The team broke ground on April 25, 2017. Completion date was scheduled for June 23.  Working with the design of landscape architect Joy Elliott,  Brown Bros. began the remediation of an old abandoned service station site and transformed it into an elegantly designed open air venue looking out over the spectacular vistas of the river and  the North Mountain.

The job required lowering the existing site, constructing a timber stage area and stairway, terracing the embankment and installing a series of precast wall stones as seating areas. The entire area was completely landscaped and planted with an extensive assortment of trees, shrubs, various plants. The project was completed by deadline.  On July1, the amphitheatre was packed as the community celebrated Canada Day. Oqwa’titek has become a focal point for almost every town celebration since and remains busy through Spring, Summer and Autumn.