Outdoor grandstand concerts at the Indiana State Fair are heading indoors to the Pepsi Coliseum near the Indianapolis fairgrounds permanently, following a recent vote by the board that oversees the annual event.
The decision precedes a forthcoming report on the collapse of a fabric roof and metal rigging above the grandstand stage before a Sugarland concert at the fair last August. Seven people were killed and more than 40 others were injured.
While the Indiana State Fair Commission had already decided to hold this year’s fair concerts at the Banker’s Life Fieldhouse in downtown Indianapolis, the move to the Pepsi Coliseum will require a bit more preparation.
The commission reportedly voted to spend roughly $3.8 million to update and expand the 7,000-capacity, 73-year-old Pepsi Coliseum.
The venue is scheduled to close this fall and reopen in time for the 2014 State Fair.