Corn Palace Director Doug Greenway says initial numbers for the Corn Palace Festival’s midway look good.
Gold Star Amusement revenue was up 6% from 2021, which was a very good year. This is the revenue that comes from the Corn Palace share of Passports to Fun, daily wristbands, carnival food and fames. Saturday was the biggest day of the carnival with $39,778 in sales and Sunday was the smallest with $10,300 in sales.
Russell Dickerson’s Friday night concert topped this year’s show attendance with 1.045 people. The Saturday night Night Ranger show drew 951 people. Randy Houser’s Thursday night concert saw 722 in attendance, while the Sunday afternoon Music of Randy Travis show drew 658 attendees.
Regarding the concerts, Greenway says “we felt we had a good selection of concerts and something for every genre. Those attending were pleased with the shows they attended and told our staff they had a great concert experience. We had superfans drive from Oklahoma and Texas to see Randy Travis in person, and we had a Canadian couple come to see Russell Dickerson.”
Greenway added that he was disappointed in ticket sales for the Russell Dickerson show in particular, as he has been selling out shows on this summer’s tour.
Final overall revenue numbers are still being tallied.