Old Town Pavilion expands and makes improvements

The Old Town pavilion in Pocatello sees its fair share of events. Thanks to $5,000 in funding from Leadership Pocatello, Old Town is making some improvements to the pavilion.

Revive at 5, the Gate City Brewfest and weekend farmers markets are just a couple of the large events that Old Town pavilion plays host to.

As the pavilion gets ready for its new season of events, you’ll notice some work being done.

Stephanie Palagi, executive director for Old Town, said it wanted to better utilize all of its current space as well as expand its green space to make room for its growing events.

“It’s about one-third more space that we’ll have in grass seating, picnic tables, the wind sails,” Palagi said. “So with the expanded green space and the wind sails, we really can accommodate crowds of 3, 4, or 5,000 people.”

What used to be a parking lot is now filled in with dirt and it’s not the only difference.

“We’ll have a sprinkler system, some new sod, a couple of new large trees to create more shade for the events,” Palagi said. “We do have some large boulders that will be coming in to serve as traffic barriers to keep our crowds safe. Then we will be adding some wind sails as well to provide more shade during the vents during the summer months.”

Growth was the biggest factor behind the expansion and Palagi said that’s great.

“It’s just the momentum is exciting,” she said. “We have found a really great following of folks in our community that just really love and value downtown.”

Palagi said it plan to have the pavilion completely done before the first farmers market of the season, which is the first Saturday in May. The Revive at 5 summer concert series also starts up again on May 23.