Busy months planned at Corn Palace

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A pair of “major country acts” will play the Corn Palace in mid-September, but the names of the performers are not being released.

Corn Palace Director Mark Schilling said the country show, set for the weekend of Sept. 14, will be the highlight of a packed month at the city-owned facility.

“In September, we’ve got every weekend where we’ve got something happening,” Schilling said.

He’s withholding the names of the country acts coming to Mitchell in September to prevent a slump in sales for the Corn Palace Festival Aug. 22-26.

The festival lineup is set.

PowerPlay, which performs cover versions of rock hits as well as original songs, will perform a free show Wednesday, Aug. 22. The group opened for Hairball at the Corn Palace in 2011.

Hinder, a veteran rock band, will play Thursday, Aug. 23, with Kory and the Fireflies opening the show, followed by country duo Thompson Square on Friday, Aug. 24. Country up-and-comer Frankie Ballard will open that show.

Country legends The Charlie Daniels Band will play Saturday, Aug. 25, with the Doo-Wah Riders opening the show.

The Happy Together Tour 2012 will close the festival Sunday, Aug. 26. The tour is made up of performances by 1960s pop stars such as former Monkees singer/drummer Micky Dolenz, Gary Puckett, The Turtles, The Grass Roots, and The Buckinghams.

Tickets for all the shows are available online, by phone or at the Corn Palace box office.

Schilling said he wants those shows to have some attention before announcing the country acts who will perform in September.

“We want to continue our sales for the Corn Palace Festival, so we didn’t want these acts to overshadow our acts for that yet,” Schilling said. “We think people will probably buy for both.”

The name of the country acts coming to the Corn Palace in September will be released in mid-June, he said.

The Corn Palace will be a hot place to be as fall arrives in September, Schilling said.

The Dakota Wesleyan University Volleyball Classic will kick off the Labor Day weekend on Friday and Saturday, Aug. 31 and Sept. 1.

The state pedal pull championship, which features children competing on toy tractors, will be held on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 3.

A second DWU volleyball tourney will be staged on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 7-8, and the team will play two more matches at the Corn Palace in September and three in October.

“They’ve had so much success playing at the Corn Palace, they’re thinking of bringing all their matches there,” Schilling said.

Other teams also like playing at the Palace, he said, and the events draw good crowds who enjoy seeing college competition.

The city has added permanent volleyball markings on the floor and floor plates to make it quicker to set up a net and get the court ready for a match, Schilling said.

There’s still more events scheduled at the Corn Palace during the month.

Both the national pedal pull competition and a car show and dance will be held on Saturday, Sept. 22.

Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 28-29, a bull riding event will be held at the Corn Palace. It will be a first-time “dirt show” inside the building, Schilling said.

While all these events will bring crowds to the Corn Palace, an event that has been staged there has been canceled. The Corn Palace Polka Festival has been halted.

But Senior Day, a free opening day to the Corn Palace Polka Festival in the past, will still be held, he said.

It will be staged at some point in September and October and will feature entertainment similar to what has been featured in the past, he said.

“September’s going to be a very busy month, and we hope to bring a lot of people to Mitchell for various activities,” Schilling said.

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