Reason #1436 why I love living in Orlando: Creative City Project, which returns to bring downtown Orlando alive with free art and music Saturday, October 17.
For one night, Orange Ave will be filled with art being brought to life before your very eyes and ears. There will be marching bands and orchestras. There will be aerial acrobatics and dancing. There will be visual artists creating as you watch.
On Friday, May 29, Orlando City Soccer Club (OCSC) and Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer announced OCSC will privately fund the entire downtown stadium construction, allowing the project to move forward immediately with an expected completion date of summer 2016.
The City of Orlando has agreed to sell the property in Parramore designated as the site for the downtown soccer stadium to OCSC, and the Club has agreed to develop the stadium. Orlando City SC will become the sole owners and operators of the venue.
Yesterday, March 8, Orlando City Soccer Club played their first season opener as a MLS (Major League Soccer) team against New York City FC (NYCFC) at the Citrus Bowl in front of a record crowd.
A sellout crowd of 62,510 fans filled the stadium, the largest attendance ever for a soccer game at the Citrus Bowl. The audience is also the second highest for an inaugural MLS match.
A big congratulations to Orlando City Soccer Club for fulfilling their goal to #fillthestadium, and sell out the Citrus Bowl for their first season home opener as a MLS team! As of this post, all seats have been filled. They even sold out 2,000 Standing Room Only tickets in less than 24 hours.
For the past few days, it seemed that the opener might be in jeopardy with a possible MLS strike, but an agreement has been reached, and the game will go on as planned on March 8. In a statement to the press, Orlando City Soccer Club Founder and President Phil Rawlins said:
Thursday afternoon, October 16, an official groundbreaking ceremony was held for Orlando City Soccer Club‘s new downtown stadium.
Thousands of fans attended, and joined together in a march from Church Street Station to the new stadium location further west on Church Street. It was quite a sight with everyone wearing purple and waving flags.
Orlando City’s primary color, purple, was prominent throughout the event, as a ceremonial dig took place featuring purple shovels and 24 tons of purple sand. In addition, fans were able to participate in the groundbreaking after the formal dig, receiving a commemorative jar containing a sample of the sand.