After the Coppell City Council meeting on May 14, 2019, the Old Town pavilion is being renovated to better protect against harsh winds and weather. 

Activities including the Coppell Farmers Market and other special events and rentals usually take place under the pavilion. 

“Whenever I go to the farmers market [under the pavilion] the weather is not always perfect,” Coppell High School senior Angeli Adhikari said. “It makes it only good to go to [the market] when the weather is perfect, which is not often.”

While the pavilion is under construction, the Coppell Farmers Market vendors are set up in the parking lot. 

“I prefer it [at the parking lot] more than the pavilion because I feel like the pavilion is for more extreme weather,” Coppell resident Sandra El Guizawi said. “It is a preference of mine to have [farmers market] by the streets because it has more of the typical farmers market feel. It was nice to have everyone walking in the middle and seeing all of the vendors there.” 

Built in 2013, the pavilion featured Roll-up wind screens costing $18,500. However, these screens are only designed to tolerate wind speeds of up to 30 mph and require city staff to manually roll up screens after every city-sponsored event.  

After the Aug. 27 City Council meeting, the council approved a contract with CORE Construction to spend $377,650 to replace the canvas screens with eight glass motorized folding doors. 

The automatic feature will allow for rentals and partnered events to have wind protection.

“Completing this project during the winter season will be ideal timing to reduce the impact on community use of the space,” community programs manager Molly Bujanda said. 

This construction is one of many occurring within Coppell this year. Reconstruction of streets and facilities make up a part of Coppell’s 2030 Vision goals.

“For the most part I don’t really like the new changes occurring because when I first moved here there was a lot more open space and land around, but now everything feels crowded,” Adhikari said. 

Adhikari has been a resident of the outskirts of Old Town since 2008.

“[Construction] is not very appealing to see all the time, but I understand the reasons for it,” Adhikari said. “Updating our facilities is important to ensure the safety of the people using them and prevent future problems. A clean facility is always necessary.”

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