July 14, 2005
After several months of planning, and thousands of hours of work, stormy weather could be the cause of the Pavilion opening later than expected. Wednesday's storm blew quickly through Charlottesville, it caused severe damage to the Charlottesville Pavilion.
Holes torn through its roof caused quite a scare for pavilion general manager Kirby Hutto.
"After the elation yesterday of seeing the roof go up, it was a big disappointment," said Hutto.
This latest scare doesn't seem to have slowed the process for the July 27th opening, and one of its first concerts on the 30th.
"The 27th has been our goal for a long time, so we're still focused on that; we still feel very confident that that's going to happen," Hutto explained.
Work continued as usual at the pavilion, but tears in its roof not only worried workers, but concert-goers as well.
"I came by and saw that there was damage done," said Sarah Hyland, who purchased a ticket for the pavilion concert. "I'm really disappointed because we were going to be surprised if they were done by the Loretta Lynn concert as it is, now that there's damage I'll be really surprised."
With crews already working double shifts seven day a week, Sarah just might be in for that surprise.
"Everything is still on schedule, and this is just a little speed bump for us; we just need to come up with a plan," said Hutto.
This is a plan many people are hoping will end with the Pavilion opening on time.
"We may not have as many seats covered as we had hoped, but we should be good to go," added Hutto.
Pavilion workers are continuing to explore dozens of different options before finalizing the plans dealing with the tears. The do not yet know if they will repair or replace them.
