An increase in the cost of Brown County Fair grandstand tickets should help with booking bigger names for concerts.
That’s what Fair Manager Rachel Kippley told county commissioners Tuesday, Nov 28 during their regular meeting at the courthouse annex.
Commissioners approved the higher ticket costs during their meeting, but 2024 tickets will be sold at 2023 prices until Christmas for those who want to save money. Here’s how the prices are changing:
- Three-night general admission concert pass: From $70 to $100.
- Four-night general admission concert pass: From $100 to $130.
- Three-night reserved seat concert pass: From $90 to $120.
- Dacotah Stampede Rodeo: From $15 to $20 for adults with tickets for children to remain at $10.
- New lumberjack event: $10 for adults, but included with three- or four-day concert passes.
Concert passes will cost $20 more during fair week. Rodeo admission will cost $5 more.
The last time ticket prices were increased was in 2021 with modest adjustments.
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Kippley said the fair board wants to hold off on setting single-night concert admission prices. They have been $40 in advance and $50 during fair week in recent years. Next year, they might vary depending on how much it costs to book acts.
Commission Chairman Duane Sutton said some members of the fair board favored bigger jumps in the cost of tickets. Even with the approved increases, attending fair concerts is still a good value, he said.
Kippley said she looked at other fairs that generally charge for fair admission and parking, and agrees.
Brown County fairgoers want bigger grandstand acts
She said one thing she hears regularly from fairgoers is that they want bigger names booked at the grandstand. That’s what the extra money will be used for, she said.
Now, the fair’s entertainment budget is now about $450,000 to book four nights of grandstand concerts.
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The plan is to book no more than two acts per night, Kippley said. This year, there were concerts with three acts, which led to the Aberdeen Hockey Association voicing concerns about longer shows cutting into its revenues from working concessions at the adjoining Club House beer garden.
Tickets are being sold online at 2023 fair week prices through Christmas. They can be purchased at browncountysdfair.com. After then, tickets will not be sold again until March and they will reflect the higher costs.
So far, about $14,000 has been collected in 2024 ticket sales, Kippley said.
The only act booked so far is Gabby Barrett, who will play Aug. 15. Kippley expects another act will be announced before Christmas.
Commissioners will consider options for improving road near Richmond Lake
Commissioners are considering possible improvements to a road that has some folks who live near Richmond Lake restless.
Residents who live along County Road 13A on the west side of the lake want upgrades, including a guard rail across a bridge and improving washboard conditions on both sides of the bridge.
MORE:Â Richmond Lake area residents want improvements to County Road 13A
Dirk Rogers, highway superintendent, said he will add bentonite to the washboarded stretch. That’s a highly absorbent clay. He said that seems to hold up well when used to improve such problems on gravel roads.
Beyond that, he said he will do whatever commissioners tell him to, but he’s against asphalting gravel roads. Commissioners understand doing so could set a precedent. They told Rogers they would contemplate options and get back to him.
Putting in the guardrail will be done next year, but has taken some time because the county is tapping federal funds to cover the bulk of the cost. What happens beyond that and adding bentonite is now up to commissioners.
Commissioner Mike Wiese said anything that can be done to improve the washboarded stretch should be aggressively pursued.
In recent years, local residents have requested improvements, citing safety concerns and that a stretch of 13A was once asphalt but has been milled.
The milled portion of the road is about 4,000 feet, Rogers said, adding he will asphalt it again if that’s what commissioners want. But traffic counts don’t support doing that, he said.
The north/south stretch of 13A that leads to County Road 13 sees about 130 vehicles per day, though that number is higher on summer weekends when more people visit the lake, Rogers said.
For comparison, he said, County Road 10 south of Warner, which is gravel, has about 325 vehicles per day. And, he said, the gravel portion of the south Aberdeen bypass (County Road 14) that eventually turns north and leads to Walmart has about 300 vehicles a day.
With temperatures dropping, Rogers reminded commissioners that while an open winter that doesn’t involve lots of snow removal saves time, it doesn’t save any money.
After the meeting, he said the county has 16 snow routes and it costs about $1,500 each to clear them. That comes to about $24,000 if they all need to be plowed or cleared.
On weekdays, the county plows after 2 inches of snow, Rogers said. On weekends, the threshold is generally 4 inches.
Brown County bridges in better shape than most
Commissioners also heard a report on bridge inspections done by IMEG this year. The company assessed 60 of the county’s 134 bridges.
On the whole, the county’s bridge sufficiency rating is 83.8, which is considerably better than the 2021 state average of 75.3. It’s also up substantially from 76.6 in 2015.
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Rogers has made improving or replacing bridges in tough shape a focus, and that is reflected in the report. It shows 114 bridges in good condition, seven in fair condition and 13 in poor condition.
Of the bridges in poor condition, a handful aren’t worth replacing and will be closed when that’s suggested by the report, he said. Most bridges need to be inspected every two years, IMEG officials said.
In other action, the commission:
- Approved three new malt beverage/farm wine license applications submitted by Stacy Gossman. They are for Head East at 5758 E. U.S. Highway 12, West Bound at 5759 E. U.S. Highway 12 and Up North at 5759 E. U.S. Highway 12. Gossman told commissioners he is working with HKG Architects on some plans for property he owns near the intersection of Eighth Avenue Southeast and South Roosevelt Street. He said he will return to the commission in a few weeks with more information, but that the land has been cleaned up at the city’s request even though it’s not in the city limits.
- Approved a variety of higher solid waste and tipping fees for the Brown County Landfill.
- Approved a joint election agreement with Aberdeen and the Aberdeen School Board for the 2024 primary. That allows all three entities to have elections at the same time on June 4.
- Met in executive session to discuss contract and security issues.