When Hurricane Ike hit the Gulf Coast on Sept. 13, the venue suffered severe damage to its Teflon coated Fiberglas fabric roof and support structure over the reserved seating area. A structural engineering firm hired to assess the damage determined that the venue should not be used for public gatherings until the roof system and its steel structure were repaired. As a result, Pavilion management had to cancel the last 10 events of the 2008 season.

In November, The Pavilion's management and Board of Directors made the decision to build back the venue. The renovation and expansion repaired the damage and made improvements by including construction of approximately 2,000 new reserved seats behind the previous uncovered seating area and building a larger canopy structure to cover all 6,387 seats. The total capacity of the facility is now 16,040, including seating for 9,653 guests on the lawn.

The original architect of The Pavilion, Horst Berger, came out of retirement in 2008 to design the new roof for The Pavilion. The new canopy features six peaks and has the same signature look as the old roof structure. The canopy's fabric weighs about 25,000 pounds and covers 82,000 square feet, which more than doubles the size of the previous canopy.

The Pavilion's 20th season turned out to be one of the best yet with 14 sold-out concerts and hundreds of thousand concertgoers attending nearly 60 events.

As The Pavilion's management and staff get ready to end the year, they look forward to planning the future of The Pavilion.

For more information about The Pavilion, visit www.woodlandscenter.org.