SARDIS — The Appalachian ECOTONE riverfront amphitheater and trails will soon be coming to Monroe County, thanks to the Appalachian Community Grant Program.

The $500 million program is spearheaded by Gov. Mike DeWine with the purpose of creating transformational changes and being a catalyst for future development by providing generational investments in the Appalachian region.

Monroe County received $4.4 million to create the new riverfront amphitheater and walking trail located at 37800 OH-7 in Sardis.

“There’s projects similar to this taking place all along the Ohio River, all the way up to the northern most part, all the way down to Cincinnati and New Richmond,” said John Carey, director of the Ohio Governor’s Office of Appalachia. “This amphitheater will be a great asset for the community. Sardis and Monroe County is a beautiful community, so we want other people to know that, and we want folks that live in the area to also be able to enjoy it.”

Carey added that one thing DeWine wanted to do was attract people to the state’s 32 Appalachian counties — travelers who will stimulate the region’s economy by spending their dollars there for food, lodging, fuel, souvenirs and more.

“We’re always working on water, sewer, and broadband, and all those things we still need, and are still working on those. But we wanted to do something different that would be transformative for the region,” Carey said. “So while we’re putting water and sewer lines in the ground, it doesn’t help us if our downtowns are falling down.”

He added that DeWine wants to make the area more attractive and make greater changes so that he can assist communities in building their pride. Carey said the Historic Monroe Theater in Woodsfield, another project funded by the program at more than $4 million, is a perfect example of building community pride while supporting the arts.

Monroe County Commissioner Mick Schumacher said that he was delighted for Friday morning’s groundbreaking ceremony. Half the funds of the project are going toward purchasing the property to create the amphitheater and walking trails.

“The amphitheater was kind of the cherry on the top. Well, now we’re going to be building a cake under our cherry, because the amphitheater and the trails were awarded the funding,” Schumacher said.

He added that the county was then able to leverage money through a Clean Ohio Trail Grant through the Ohio Department of National Resources to purchase the wetland property that could not be built on to develop the walking trails.

Schumacher said that the grant paid for 75% of the wetlands and an Ohio Department of Transportation Ohio Scenic Byways grant will pay for the other 25%.

“It’s very rare that you get opportunities like this,” he said. “It was a lot of work, I won’t kid you, because they kept moving the goalpost. This is federal money, and it had to fall through those federal guidelines, which sometimes they’d say, ‘Oh, we can’t do it that way, because we’ve got to follow these guidelines,’ so we’d have to revamp.”

He added that although it’s been difficult at times he couldn’t be happier that ground is finally broken on the project.

In compliance with the Appalachian Community Grant Program the project is required to be completed by Oct. 30, 2026.