State Fair Rents Stage To Put Crowds, Bands At Ease

State Fair's current stage

With recent stage collapses at outdoor music events this summer fresh in the minds of music fans and the artists that use the platforms, the performers at the South Dakota State Fair will have some added security when facing the crowd…

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State Fair Manager Jerome Hertel says the State Fair also looked at it’s policies regarding severe weather, after a stage collapse at the Indiana

Workers set-up a leased stage Friday afternoon

 State Fair took the lives of seven people attending a Sugarland concert…

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Sunday night performer Cheap Trick had a run-in with a stage that partially collapsed in Canada earlier this year and Hertel says the leased stage was a partial result of the band’s experience…

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Hertel says the current stage’s days of bringing music’s best to fair-goers is not completely over…

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The normal stage sits off of turn four at the Dakota State Fair Speedway. Hertel say there is nothing structurally wrong with the current stage and the rental unit is purely precautionary. Ronnie Dunn will use the stage Saturday night. Don Williams used the stage Friday night.