MITCHELL — One year after taking its lumps with booking entertainment, the Corn Palace Festival concerts bounced back in 2024.

Country artist Scotty McCreery and rock band Skillet each had a strong showing for their shows on Thursday, Aug. 22 and Saturday, Aug. 24, respectively. Corn Palace Director Doug Greenway was pleased with the turnout and the community response to the shows.

According to Greenway, 2,237 tickets were sold for McCreery’s show, with a total attendance recorded at 2,532 fans. Skillet drew 1,512 paid tickets and a total attendance of 1,800, which Greenway said exceeded the venue’s goal.

“I think the shows sounded great,” Greenway said. “A sellout for us is 2,750 people. We were a little short of that with Scotty McCreery but we had more than 2,600 people in the building, counting our workers and volunteers. There were a few hiccups with a few lines but overall, it was a great experience.”

Mitchell Mayor Jordan Hanson was among those ahead of the concert dates promoting ticket sales online. He was thrilled with the turnout and the response.

“I think it’s going to be the best and highest-grossing concerts we’ve had,” said the mayor, who took office in July. “That was great, nobody complained about the seats or the acoustics, from what I saw. And I think it’s because people were just having a good time. … We were in the green on both of those. As a city, it’s great to make money, not lose money on a concert.”

Greenway said the 2025 concert lineup will be a topic for the Corn Palace Entertainment Board, which books the entertainment. Pepper Entertainment is the promoter and producer of the concerts, and Greenway said organizers are working to see who is available for next year’s dates.

“We will be working to get someone signed as soon as possible,” he said.

It comes off a 2023 when no festival concert sold more than 1,100 tickets, as the Corn Palace board couldn’t agree on what act to book and didn’t have shows in place until June, leading former mayor Bob Everson to criticize the board’s inaction.

Notably, McCreery was one of the acts that the Corn Palace Entertainment Board couldn’t agree on for 2023. When they got another chance for 2024, the board didn’t miss.

“In Sioux Falls, 2,500 or 2,600 people is a drop in the bucket,” Greenway said. “For us, it’s a good show. And we’re working hard on next year now, they have our dates.”

Greenway noted that the Corn Palace also stepped forward and made back-of-house improvements for this year’s shows, with camper trailers available for artists and bands to hang out in prior to showtime. Otherwise, the building doesn’t have a true green room like many concert venues and musicians then have to use the building’s locker rooms. He said attendance for McCreery’s show also benefitted because it was a Thursday night, away from conflicts with high school football on Friday.

“We didn’t get complaints but we want this to be a good experience for them in Mitchell,” Greenway said. “We want to treat the artists well and have them have a good experience.”

Hanson commended the Corn Palace board for its efforts to book the shows and to have the arena ready for the large crowds. Hanson said he also discussed future concerts with promoters from Pepper, saying he would like to see five to eight concerts a year at the Corn Palace in addition to the festival shows, to which Hanson said they were “totally on board.”

Hanson said more than 60% of the attendees for the Skillet show were from outside of Mitchell, while that rate was around 45% for the Scotty McCreery show.

“We want to make the Corn Palace a stop on tours, we want to be on some tour T-shirts,” Hanson said. “I want the Corn Palace to be a destination for concerts.”

It was also a strong year for midway rides with Goldstar Amusements, Greenway said. Total revenue for the five-day carnival was $50,237, the highest mark in at least five years, he said. That comes despite a hot weather day on Sunday, which saw a high of 91 and heat index figures top out at 107. Greenway said the hot weather made Sunday’s carnival turnout about half of what was recorded earlier in the weekend.

In terms of sheer attendance, no festival records were set in 2024. Other recent Corn Palace concerts have drawn more people, although the seating arrangements have varied over the years. In 2005, Big and Rich had a crowd of 3,200 people and in 2011, country music stars Josh Turner and The Band Perry played to a sell-out crowd of 3,018, and former Disney Channel actor/singer Raven-Symoné played to 2,937 paid attendees in 2006. Country legend Willie Nelson drew 2,806 in 2003 and 2,078 for his last concert at the Palace in 2013. LeeAnn Rimes (2,700) and Trace Adkins (2,600) were strong draws in 2006, as was Brad Paisley in 2004 (2,500).

In 1992, former Lawrence Welk Band accordionist and South Dakota native Myron Floren drew a Corn Palace crowd of 6,621 people in a tribute show remembrance of Welk, who had died earlier that year. It’s believed to be the highest single-show attendance on record in Corn Palace history.

Marcus Traxler is the assistant editor and sports editor for the Mitchell Republic. A past winner of the state’s Outstanding Young Journalist award and the 2023 South Dakota Sportswriter of the Year, he’s worked for the newspaper since 2014 and covers a wide variety of topics. A Minnesota native, Traxler can be reached at [email protected].