Building Better Communities (BBC), the outreach and engagement division at Ball State University, announced Thursday that the Riverside Park Amphitheater in Rushville is one of four recipients of the 2014 Primacy of Place Community Awards. The awards, presented at an awards ceremony luncheon at the Minnetrista Cultural Center in Muncie, recognize Indiana communities’ exemplary approaches to improving quality of life for their residents, visitors, and businesses. Fellow winners include Big Four Bridge and Big Four Station in Jeffersonville, Nickel Plate Arts Initiative in eastern Hamilton/southern Tipton counties and the Read to Succeed program in Greater Lafayette/Tippecanoe County.”Riverside Park is an extraordinary venue for our community that brings local people together and people from out of town, who come here and enjoy our community, spend their money. And when one considers the fact that the venue was built with very little taxpayer dollars and that the shows are put on every year without a penny of taxpayers dollars, it is an amazing thing that our community has come together for a common cause. It is humbling that Ball State and Building Better Communities recognized that we are doing something great here,” ECDC Executive Director John McCane said. “A community’s investment in quality-of-place is one of the top-drivers of economic development within that community,” Bill Davis, executive director of Indiana’s Office of Community and Rural Affairs, one of the organizations partnering with Ball State to present the awards, said. “It helps attract a talented workforce as well as cultivate increased interest for new businesses to move to the community. These communities are among those that are truly focused on determining their economic futures.” The city of Rushville (pop. 6,204) was recognized for its Riverside Park Amphitheater and free summer concert series, which has hosted more than 65,000 concert-goers over the last five years. – See more at: http://www.rushvillerepublican.com/local/x1927913361/Rushville-wins-2014-Primacy-of-Place-Community-Award#sthash.oqal9ZkW.dpuf