If you’ve got tickets to an upcoming show at the Palace Theatre, read this before you drive downtown.
Georgetown’s historic Palace Theatre at 810 S. Austin Ave. is currently closed after the January cold snap caused pipes to burst inside the building, resulting in flood damage significant enough to halt operations. According to Community Impact, repairs will include replacing the sound system, a portion of the seating, and sections of the stage — not a quick patch job.
The good news: the show goes on. Upcoming performances are being relocated to the Doug Smith Performance Center and the Klett Center for the Performing Arts while the Palace undergoes renovations. If you have tickets, contact the Palace box office directly or check georgetownpalace.org to confirm where your event has moved.
Why this matters beyond the inconvenience
The Palace Theatre has been a cornerstone of Georgetown’s arts scene since it opened in 1925. That’s over a hundred years of community theater, live music, and the occasional moment where you forget you’re in a suburb of Austin. For a city growing as fast as Georgetown is, places like the Palace are the connective tissue between the old town and all the newcomers — and they’re not easy to replace.
Burst pipes from a cold snap aren’t exactly unprecedented in Central Texas (anyone remember February 2021?), but damage on this scale is a gut-check. The sound system, seating, and stage repairs suggest the water got into some of the worst places possible.
I’ll be honest: the Klett Center is a fine venue, and the Doug Smith Performance Center handles its load well. Georgetown has the performing arts infrastructure to weather this. But there’s something irreplaceable about watching a show in a building that’s been hosting them since before your grandparents were born.
What to expect
No timeline has been given for the Palace’s reopening — these kinds of structural and equipment repairs tend to take longer than the initial estimates suggest. Keep an eye on their website and social media if you’re a regular patron, and make sure your season ticket contacts have your current email on file.
In the meantime, the Palace team deserves credit for keeping the programming alive rather than just dark-marking the calendar. Rescheduling shows to alternate venues takes real coordination, and it keeps the momentum going for performers and audiences alike.
We’ll follow up when a reopening timeline is announced.
For show schedules and venue updates, visit georgetownpalace.org. The Doug Smith Performance Center is located at Georgetown High School. The Klett Center for the Performing Arts is at Southwestern University.