{"id":1975746,"date":"2025-08-23T05:44:22","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T05:44:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=1975746"},"modified":"2025-08-23T05:44:22","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T05:44:22","slug":"from-polka-to-poison-corn-palace-adjusts-entertainment-offerings-with-the-times-mitchell-republic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/from-polka-to-poison-corn-palace-adjusts-entertainment-offerings-with-the-times-mitchell-republic\/","title":{"rendered":"From polka to Poison, Corn Palace adjusts entertainment offerings with the times &#8211; Mitchell Republic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>MITCHELL \u2014 For those of a certain age, the name Bret Michaels conjures up memories of &#8217;80s rock glory. <\/p>\n<p>The frontman and singer for Poison is scheduled to hit the stage at the Corn Palace on Saturday, bringing with him his brand of raucous rock and roll, and maybe even a performance of hits like \u201cNothing But A Good Time\u201d and \u201cEvery Rose Has Its Thorn.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s expected to be a highlight of the 2025 Corn Palace Festival, following performances by country musician Justin Moore Thursday evening and Christian pop music musician Micah Tyler on Friday night. Organizers suspect there will be something for all festival-goers to enjoy at the Palace this year.<\/p>\n<p>But not that long ago, the Corn Palace Festival was home to a tradition in another musical style \u2013 polka.<\/p>\n<p>From 1980 to 2012, hundreds gathered every year at Mitchell\u2019s main landmark to celebrate the Corn Palace Polka Festival. There, dancers and musicians would spend hours dancing and celebrating classic polka tunes such as \u201cBeer Barrel Polka,\u201d \u201cPennsylvania Polka\u201d and \u201cJust Because.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The polka event kicked off the 1981 version of the Corn Palace Festival, and for many years polka music and dancing was part of the multi-day event before it moved to a September date separate from the Corn Palace Festival. It drew about 1,000 participants in 2011, and had as many 1,700 on the floor in 2004, according to articles in the Mitchell Republic.<\/p>\n<div class=\"Enhancement\">\n<div class=\"jeg_video_container jeg_video_content\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Polka Festival- Mitchell Corn Palace\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zFn_MHCC7_c?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n<p>It was a destination stop for polka fans from around the country, and over three decades it remained a cherished stop for fans of the genre. But come 2012, a list of issues with the event, including dwindling attendance attributed partly to an aging participant base, declining profit and wear and tear on the venue led organizers to discontinue the festival.<\/p>\n<p>Mark Schilling, Corn Palace director in 2012, told the Mitchell Republic at the time that the gathering had run its course.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the past few years, we have really seen declining attendance numbers, and that has led to a decline in profit,\u201d Schilling said.<\/p>\n<p>The festival turned a small profit that year, but there were other factors to consider. There were costs incurred from needing Corn Palace staff for maintenance before and after the festival, and cleanup costs also added to the bill. Workers had to resurface the gym floor to make it ready for high school volleyball season.<\/p>\n<p>Coupled with the declining attendance, the writing was on the wall for the once-beloved attraction at the Corn Palace. But it did leave a hole in the hearts of many polka fans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is with great disappointment that a decision was made by the governing body of the city of Mitchell to discontinue the Polka Festival there,\u201d Emil Hanson, of Onalaska, Wisconsin, wrote in part in a letter to the editor printed in the Mitchell Republic April 20, 2012. \u201cIt was one of the best in the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Several other letters from readers in Colorado, Illinois and other locales echoed the sentiment. Local participants also said they were saddened by the closing of the festival, including Billee Thompson, of Geddes.<\/p>\n<p>Thompson, who was interviewed in 2012 about the festival, said the cancellation sent waves through the polka community.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe travel all over for polka festivals and everywhere we go, we have people from Colorado, Kansas, from everywhere asking us why they aren\u2019t going to have polka at the Corn Palace this year,\u201d Thompson said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"Enhancement\">\n<div class=\"Enhancement-item\">\n<figure class=\"Figure\">\n<picture><source type=\"image\/webp\" width=\"840\" height=\"560\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.forumcomm.com\/dims4\/default\/f8033b9\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5389x3593+0+0\/resize\/840x560!\/format\/webp\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforum-communications-production-web.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fce%2Fee%2Ff52a3ff84bb9a3cdba5ad1fcd0c5%2F8-27-22cornpalacefestival-44.jpg 1x,https:\/\/cdn.forumcomm.com\/dims4\/default\/d6e4650\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5389x3593+0+0\/resize\/1680x1120!\/format\/webp\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforum-communications-production-web.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fce%2Fee%2Ff52a3ff84bb9a3cdba5ad1fcd0c5%2F8-27-22cornpalacefestival-44.jpg 2x\" data-lazy-load=\"true\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSI1NjBweCIgd2lkdGg9Ijg0MHB4Ij48L3N2Zz4=\"\/><source width=\"840\" height=\"560\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.forumcomm.com\/dims4\/default\/79f0063\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5389x3593+0+0\/resize\/840x560!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforum-communications-production-web.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fce%2Fee%2Ff52a3ff84bb9a3cdba5ad1fcd0c5%2F8-27-22cornpalacefestival-44.jpg\" data-lazy-load=\"true\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSI1NjBweCIgd2lkdGg9Ijg0MHB4Ij48L3N2Zz4=\"\/><\/p>\n<\/picture>\n<div class=\"Figure-content\"><figcaption class=\"Figure-caption\">Scenes from Mitchell&#8217;s Main street during the Corn Palace Festival on Saturday, Aug. 27, 2022.<\/figcaption><p>Adam Thury \/ Mitchell Republic<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n<p>It is always difficult to say goodbye to tradition, but Corn Palace officials said it\u2019s a must to keep an eye on concert and festival trends to ensure entertainment acts are a solid draw for good crowds. That keeps people buying tickets and filling the seats, which is essential for profitability.<\/p>\n<p>Jordan Hanson, mayor of Mitchell, said Corn Palace officials are always looking to draw acts that are interesting to area concertgoers. Recent feedback suggested the venue branch out and bring in acts from genres other than country, and Saturday\u2019s date with Michaels should help broaden the appeal of Corn Palace Festival shows in general.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCounty has typically performed very well, and that\u2019s why we have a country artist this year. But last year we had Skillet, which performed very, very well,\u201d Hanson said Friday. \u201cAnd this year we have Bret Michaels, and we\u2019re right over $100,000 in sales of tickets right now. It\u2019s probably one of the better performing rock concerts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Competition with other venues and events for performers will always be tough, Hanson said, but organizers keep an eye on who is available for booking and then send offers out to their top picks. Sometimes they even catch a star early in their career. Jason Aldean played the Palace in 2008 just two years after his No. 1 breakthrough single \u201cWhy\u201d made it to the top spot on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. He\u2019s sold 20 million albums in his career.<\/p>\n<div class=\"Enhancement\">\n<div class=\"Enhancement-item\">\n<figure class=\"Figure\">\n<picture><source type=\"image\/webp\" width=\"840\" height=\"561\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.forumcomm.com\/dims4\/default\/1aa291e\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/2816x1880+0+0\/resize\/840x561!\/format\/webp\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffcc-cue-exports-brightspot.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fmitchellrepublic%2Fbinary%2Fcopy%2F60%2F9a%2F08e6510d1b1cefe150e4248acb33%2F258637-img-5401-binary-2250701.jpg 1x,https:\/\/cdn.forumcomm.com\/dims4\/default\/08da76b\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/2816x1880+0+0\/resize\/1680x1122!\/format\/webp\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffcc-cue-exports-brightspot.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fmitchellrepublic%2Fbinary%2Fcopy%2F60%2F9a%2F08e6510d1b1cefe150e4248acb33%2F258637-img-5401-binary-2250701.jpg 2x\" data-lazy-load=\"true\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSI1NjFweCIgd2lkdGg9Ijg0MHB4Ij48L3N2Zz4=\"\/><source width=\"840\" height=\"561\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.forumcomm.com\/dims4\/default\/c6fe60e\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/2816x1880+0+0\/resize\/840x561!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffcc-cue-exports-brightspot.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fmitchellrepublic%2Fbinary%2Fcopy%2F60%2F9a%2F08e6510d1b1cefe150e4248acb33%2F258637-img-5401-binary-2250701.jpg\" data-lazy-load=\"true\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSI1NjFweCIgd2lkdGg9Ijg0MHB4Ij48L3N2Zz4=\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"Image\" alt=\"E-mailed suggestions span all musical genres, from Mel Tillis to Hannah Montana\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.forumcomm.com\/dims4\/default\/c6fe60e\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/2816x1880+0+0\/resize\/840x561!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffcc-cue-exports-brightspot.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fmitchellrepublic%2Fbinary%2Fcopy%2F60%2F9a%2F08e6510d1b1cefe150e4248acb33%2F258637-img-5401-binary-2250701.jpg 1x,https:\/\/cdn.forumcomm.com\/dims4\/default\/380e251\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/2816x1880+0+0\/resize\/1680x1122!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffcc-cue-exports-brightspot.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fmitchellrepublic%2Fbinary%2Fcopy%2F60%2F9a%2F08e6510d1b1cefe150e4248acb33%2F258637-img-5401-binary-2250701.jpg 2x\" width=\"840\" height=\"561\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.forumcomm.com\/dims4\/default\/c6fe60e\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/2816x1880+0+0\/resize\/840x561!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffcc-cue-exports-brightspot.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fmitchellrepublic%2Fbinary%2Fcopy%2F60%2F9a%2F08e6510d1b1cefe150e4248acb33%2F258637-img-5401-binary-2250701.jpg\" data-lazy-load=\"true\" bad-src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSI1NjFweCIgd2lkdGg9Ijg0MHB4Ij48L3N2Zz4=\"\/><\/p>\n<\/picture>\n<div class=\"Figure-content\"><figcaption class=\"Figure-caption\">Crowds push toward the stage during the Rick Springfield concert of the Corn Palace Festival in 2008.<\/figcaption><p>Mitchell Republic File Photo<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n<p>Delivering what people want will always be a priority, Hanson said.<\/p>\n<p>Last year\u2019s country concert with Scotty McCreery came close to a sellout, while the festival\u2019s featured rock act, Skillet, drew around 1,800 fans. Hanson said the city hopes to match or exceed that attendance with Michaels.<\/p>\n<p>The evolution of acts performing at the Corn Palace Festival has been ongoing since the festival\u2019s inception in 1892, when the Phinney Iowa State Band was the main act. In 1904, it was John Philip Sousa\u2019s Band. In 1948, Lawrence Welk brought his polka stylings to the Palace for the first time, and he returned in 1954.<\/p>\n<p>Since the turn of the century, more modern acts have stopped by. Big-name acts like Willie Nelson, Big and Rich and Bowling For Soup made appearances. As the years have rolled on, LeAnn Rimes, Joan Jett, Styx and Night Ranger have all graced the Palace stage.<\/p>\n<p>It will be Bret Michaels&#8217; turn Saturday night to add his name to the list.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m sure Saturday will be pretty wild,\u201d Hanson said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n  window.fbAsyncInit = function() {\n      FB.init({\n              appId : '333537111744287',\n          xfbml : true,\n          version : 'v2.9'\n      });\n  };\n  (function(d, s, id){\n     var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];\n     if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;}\n     js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;\n     js.src = \"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js\";\n     fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n   }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.mitchellrepublic.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MITCHELL \u2014 For those of a certain age, the name Bret Michaels conjures up memories of &#8217;80s rock glory. The frontman and singer for Poison is scheduled to hit the stage at the Corn Palace on Saturday, bringing with him his brand of raucous rock and roll, and maybe even a performance of hits like [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1975747,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1975746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/From-polka-to-Poison-Corn-Palace-adjusts-entertainment-offerings-with.com2Fbrightspot2Fce.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1975746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1975746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1975746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1975747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1975746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1975746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1975746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}