Merriweather Post Pavilion

Spotted with trees and saddled by Symphony Woods on its northern end, Merriweather Post Pavilion spans 50 acres of parkland. Its outdoor amphitheater offers 5,200 pavilion seats, which are sheltered from weather, and about 10,000 lawn seats. The facility showcases performances throughout the summer, attracting fans from Towson, Annapolis, Catonsville, Washington and as far as Harrisburg, Pa.

Concerts are enhanced by three life-size video screens and elaborate colored lighting. Patrons can loll on the lawn's expanded picnic area before the show and order from a multi-ethnic menu that includes veggie wraps, burritos, noodle bars and gyros. They can stroll along lightedbrick paths through the pavilion's historical markers and 150-year-old beech tree groves, and loiter on park benches overlooking a new fountain in Symphony Woods Pond. Improvements made in the summer of 1998 added extra lighting, box office windows, parking for the disabled, uniform signs and banners, a tan, green and white color scheme.

-- Vandana Sinha