10 Years Later: Merriweather Thrives After Nearly Shutting Down

By Kirsten Petersen

Merriweather Post Pavilion was recently named the best outdoor amphitheater on the East coast by Rolling Stone Magazine, but only ten years ago Howard County officials had considered shutting down the concert venue for good.

The pavilion had struggled in the 90s and early 2000s to capture the legendary concert experience fans remembered from the 70s and 80s when legends like The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, and Led Zeppelin lit up the outdoor amphitheater.

It was the summer of 2003 when General Growth Properties, the owner of Merriweather Post Pavilion, planned to transform the amphitheater’s parking lots into hundreds of homes, offices and retail space and sell the pavillion property.

In response to the proposal, Justin Carlson and Ian Kennedy, both Howard County residents and fans of the venue, organized Save Merriweather, a campaign that advocated for Merriweather Post Pavilion’s preservation.

Carlson and Kennedy had both seen an article about General Growth Properties’ intention to develop an area that Merriweather used for parking lots, but the story did not mention the amphitheater. They urged local media to investigate how Merriweather would be affected.

“By this time ten years ago it had landed on the agenda of the county zoning board and more people paid attention,” Kennedy said.

During the zoning board’s first hearing on Merriweather’s fate July 23, 2003—Kennedy’s 26th birthday—General Growth Properties announced its intention to close the outdoor amphitheater and convert it to a smaller enclosed theater.

The Save Merriweather campaign gained momentum from there. Carlson and Kennedy passed out flyers outside Merriweather concerts and spoke with county council members and concert-goers.

Kennedy said the campaign had a lot of energy but also a compelling cause for community involvement.

“A lot of these discussions do not resonate with people unless it’s in their backyard or affects their lives in an immediate way, whereas Merriweather matters to a lot of people, so we were able to get a lot interest in it,” Kennedy said.

One of the campaign’s greatest advocates was current county executive Ken Ulman, who was a County Council member in 2003, said Kennedy.

“Merriweather would not have been saved if it weren’t for Ken Ulman,” Kennedy said. “We were a bunch of 20 somethings who didn’t really understand the development process, and while we were building grassroots support, Ken was working with his colleagues on the issues.”

When it came to ensuring the venue’s survival, Save Merriweather focused on the amphitheater’s contribution to the community and how it could benefit the county financially.

“We learned very early on that development on Merriweather parking lots was inevitable,” Kennedy said. “Once we took that as a given, then the important question became ‘How does Merriweather continue to function like it is now in this new town center?’”

“Merriweather should be a hub of culture and arts and music. Let’s use this to our advantage to make downtown Columbia more attractive on a regional scale,” Kennedy added.

General Growth Properties decided not to sell the pavilion in 2005. Instead, they worked with the county to develop a 30-year master plan for downtown Columbia.

Not long after Save Merriweather’s establishment, IMP Productions, which also operates the 9:30 Club, took over the management of the venue. In 2007 the Washington Post reported that IMP Productions brought 250,000 concert-goers in 2005 and 2006, compared to 225,000 in 2004.

“General Growth Properties realized that Merriweather was Merriweather and it had a lot of support in the community,” Kennedy said. “They were wasting a lot of their energy trying to fight the overwhelming community support.”

The Downtown Columbia Plan, released in 2010, paves the way for renovation of the pavillion and anticipates its ownership to possibly be transferred to the new Downtown Arts and Culture Commission to ensure its continued use as an arts center.

That same year, General Growth Properties designated the Howard Hughes Corporation as the main developer for Columbia Town Center. Howard Hughes is now developing a plan to renovate the concert venue as well as develop the land surrounding it.

“It was always a goal to be owned by an organization that was committed solely to its success in the long-term,” Kennedy said.

Today the music venue is regularly ranked as one of the top amphitheaters in the country—most recently by Rolling Stone—but in 2010, Billboard Magazine ranked it the second best amphitheater in the country.

Recently, Merriweather has hosted major festivals like Sweetlife and Virgin Mobile FreeFest as well as top acts like the breakout band Fun!, Zac Brown Band, and Bob Dylan.

Kennedy went on to serve as Ulman’s chief of staff when he became county executive. He’s now the director of communications at the Howard County-based Horizon Foundation.

Although the campaign’s website hasn’t been updated since 2007, Kennedy said the Save Merriweather is still an important voice in the community.

“Certainly we’re not formally engaged in a campaign, but Justin and I, we love Merriweather and we are always looking out for its best interest,” Kennedy said. “As long as we’re here and Merriweather is here, we’ll keep tabs on things and look at how the downtown landscape is effecting Merriweather,” he said.