Construction begins on new band shell structure for Pack Square Park stage

Construction crews have returned to Pack Square Park to begin work on a new stage structure that will allow for part of the stage to be covered. Two years ago, the Asheville Downtown Association began raising $100,000 for the project. Adrian Vassallo, president of the association’s board of directors, said the new covering will allow for expanded programming in the park. E

Asheville artist Hoss Haley, who designed the curving stainless steel pergola that now stands over the stage, has designed a new structure that will be integrated into the existing one for the covering. Peter Belt, the designer and maker of fabric shelters for Artful Shelter and Red Sky Shelters, designed the cover. Click here to see a mock-up of what the new structure and cover will look like.

A covering for Haley’s pergola was part of the initial plan for the park, which opened in 2010 after a$17 million, 6-year process to remake the city’s high-profile park.

Last year, the Asheville Symphony Orchestra’s outdoor concert on the stage in Pack Square Park was canceled, in part due to the lack of the covering, which local officials had hoped to have in place.