diff --git a/CHANGELOG.txt b/CHANGELOG.txt
index 6f78df72cde3d0cd6142e1765a3dbe5645418c14..6bbbf7af9ea263b183e99f0e30aeb0208e3fd3ce 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.txt
+++ b/CHANGELOG.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 // $Id$
 
+Zen 6.x-2.x-dev, xxxx-xx-xx
+-----------------------
+- Convert region template suggestions into theme hook suggestions
+
 Zen 6.x-2.0, 2010-06-26
 -----------------------
 - #791056 by meatsack and JohnAlbin: Zen clobbers Views 3 classes
diff --git a/template.php b/template.php
index d3744ff08bd9b9f5d4386258ff31c83b05ac8214..ee3afbfda5e5c059261161332cc2e2b10c8f1296 100644
--- a/template.php
+++ b/template.php
@@ -248,7 +248,13 @@ function zen_blocks($region, $show_blocks = NULL) {
     $elements['#children'] = $output;
     $elements['#region'] = $region;
 
-    return $output ? theme('region', $elements) : '';
+    // Set the theme hook suggestions.
+    $hook = array('region_' . $region);
+    if (strpos($region, 'sidebar_') === 0) {
+      $hook[] = 'region_sidebar';
+    }
+    $hook[] = 'region';
+    return $output ? theme($hook, $elements) : '';
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/zen-internals/template.theme-registry.inc b/zen-internals/template.theme-registry.inc
index ccc6777fab49dbc725840a9160f851f30e7c2eab..95d8e01776683369ba8582e4aeb3ba949763f1da 100644
--- a/zen-internals/template.theme-registry.inc
+++ b/zen-internals/template.theme-registry.inc
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ function _zen_theme(&$existing, $type, $theme, $path) {
     return array(
       'region' => array(
         'arguments' => array('elements' => NULL),
-        //'pattern' => 'region_',
+        'pattern' => 'region_',
         'path' => drupal_get_path('theme', 'zen') . '/templates',
         'template' => 'region',
         // We manually register the preprocess and process functions, since