'American Pie' on menu this weekend at newest BSU campus gem

MUNCIE, Ind. − This weekend the latest venue in a growing campus of fresh places to work and play at Ball State University goes into action. The new Brown Family Amphitheater will host singer-songwriter Don McLean on Saturday evening in a free concert sponsored by the City of Muncie.

The lawn will hold a thousand or more fans of the man who first strummed the enigmatic "American Pie" over a half century ago. The song, which continues to capture airplay on oldies radio, is expected to be preformed on a new stage that sits where a popular campus parking garage once stood around the time "American Pie" was a hit.

The amphitheater is the latest example of the ongoing remake of the physical Ball State, which has turned out some spectacular structures in the northwest section of campus and also south of Riverside Avenue. Soon the redevelopment will be taken to the The Village area. A planned Performing Arts Center and an upscale hotel are are leaving the drawing board for reality down at McKinley and University avenues.

To sporadic visitors, the campus seems to be changing near the pace of the Las Vegas Strip. But what can seem abrupt on the surface is actually the result of intentions that have been kept throughout generations.

"Long term planning," said BSU President Geoffrey Means said as he stood on the amphitheater's still unused stage. The Ball State university of today "is the result of long term planning."

He also listed vision, resources and the persistence to stay with the plan through inevitable ups and downs as being the recipe for the institution that is not just adding facilities but also adding students while other universities are seeing shrinking enrollment.

Mearns said the stewardship of leaders who preceded him laid the plans for the university's growth today. But he also says an investment of nearly $300 million from state government into the campus during the past several years has been essential to the development of Ball State.

Recent projects with state funding include:

• Health Professions Building: $62.5 million

• Foundational Sciences Building: $87.5 million

• Cooper Science Building Renovation: $60 million

• North Campus Building Renovations (includes renovations to the Architecture Building, Hargreaves Music Building, Arts and Communications Building, and other academic infrastructure): $81 million

And the BSU president also said that along with Statehouse support has been philanthropic generosity of a nature that has fundamentally upgraded the school — including the stage on which Mearns was standing.

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The Brown Family Amphitheater is another gift to Muncie and Ball State from Charles Brown, a 1971 graduate from the university. He was a economics and marketing major at BSU and was a successful entrepreneur after graduation, at one time operating a Taco Bell franchise that he grew to 76 restaurants across southern Indiana and Illinois.

Now retired, Brown is sharing his wealth at his alma mater. He spent four "great years" as an undergraduate on campus.

It was here, he said, he began to learn that "building relationships make a big difference."

Brown delivered a $2.8 million gift to the university for construction of the amphitheater after Mearns spoke with him about the uses for the field of grass at the center of campus once the parking garage had been removed. Part of the campus plan was to push such parking facilities to the edges of university grounds and make the campus more pedestrian friendly.

The donor's main stipulation for the amphitheater was that it would also be made available to the community at large, outside Ball State. Muncie has also been in Brown's heart. He fondly recalled his job working at Clark's Appliance in downtown Muncie while a student.

So it was appropriate that the first show featuring McLean be one produced by the city.

The Brown Family Amphitheater isn't Brown's only gift to the university. It isn't even the largest. He was the donor behind the Charles W. Brown Planetarium, which opened in 2014 at the Cooper Science Building. With a 52-foot-diameter dome, it is the largest planetarium in Indiana and has drawn stargazers from as far away as Japan.

More: Travel into space with the Ball State planetarium

Brown requested that the planetarium not only be welcoming to people from off campus but that it also have no charge for visitors. The planetarium has continued operations according to his wishes.

Brown said he credited former BSU President Jo Ann Gora, who served the university for 10 years before retiring in 2014, for doing much to raise the standards of the university.

Today, Brown, who lives in the Indianapolis area, takes pride in Ball State and its willingness to engage with Muncie. Muncie Community Schools was placed in the control of Ball State by the Indiana Legislature in 2018 after financial, enrollment and academic problems.

And he marvels at the campus today in comparison to when he was a student.

"I think it's the prettiest campus in Indiana," he said.

He will be on hand for the official grand opening for the Amphitheater at 6 p.m. Sept. 19. Following the ribbon-cutting ceremony will be a free jazz concert featuring the Ball State Jazz Ensemble with vocalist and Ball State graduate Tatum Langley, said Seth Beckman, dean of the College of Fine Arts.

The amphitheater sits behind Pruis Hall, between Noyer and Woodworth complexes. Beckman said the new facility has dressing rooms and a green room for performers.

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For Saturday night, in order to allow as many fans as possible to enjoy the performance, Mears said those coming to the performance by McLean are welcome to bring portable chairs or sit and relax on the ground. However, due to space considerations, visitors won't be able to spread blankets on the grass.

David Penticuff is a reporter with The Star Press. He can be contacted at dpenticuff@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: 'American Pie' on menu this weekend at newest BSU campus gem