Expansion complete at music venue
$17.2M spent to add seating, restrooms, spruce up backstage area at Rogers site
ROGERS — The Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion has completed its $17.2 million expansion.
The outdoor concert venue hosted a small ceremony and tour Thursday morning for sponsors and community leaders.
The venue increased seating capacity from 10,000 to 11,000, said Peter Lane, president and chief executive officer of the Walton Arts Center, which owns the venue. The expansion includes a covered plaza and a bar at the top of the lawn. The plaza can be used for concert viewing and can be rented out for events, Lane said.
More concession stands and restrooms, an expanded main entry plaza, a bigger box office and more backstage amenities for artists are also new.
“We’ve always had great food and beverages, but we recognized the need for more concessions and restrooms to reduce the time spent in line,” Lane said. “And while our stage has the capacity to accommodate the biggest names in the touring industry, our backstage areas needed better amenities to better accommodate the larger tours.”
Among the additions to the backstage area are a laundry, a renovated and larger dining area for artists and crews and four dressing rooms, putting the facility at eight dressing rooms.
“If you think about it, artists are on the road sometimes for 20 weeks, maybe longer, so when they land in a venue, it’s their home,” Lane said.
The Arkansas Music Pavilion didn’t have concerts this summer because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“This is not how we envisioned unveiling our expanded facility, and we will do a more public celebration once health and safety conditions permit it,” Lane said.
Attendees at Thursday’s tour were required to wear masks.
“This is an exciting morning,” Rogers Mayor Greg Hines said. “It’s one that doesn’t come without anxiety though, as well.”
Hines said the pandemic had affected the concert venue greatly.
The venue has rescheduled shows for next summer that should have happened this year, but hasn’t added any new performances yet, said spokeswoman Jennifer Wilson.
The Arkansas Music Pavilion opened in 2014 and announced in 2018 that it had plans to expand. Wilson said then that more seats were needed because some performers will not play at venues that don’t seat at least 10,000.
Construction began in November 2019, according to a release. Hunt Ventures, Walmart, General Mills, Tyson Foods, Procter & Gamble, Visit Rogers, Live Nation and Choctaw Casinos & Resorts helped pay for the work.