decorahnews.com exclusive: 35,000 people to visit Decorah for a huge outdoor concert?

An outdoor concert featuring a musical act known around the world, with an estimated audience of 35,000.  It seems unlikely that Decorah would be the setting for such an event.  But that was areal possibility--until Thursday.

That's when the Winneshiek County Convention and Visitors Bureau learned that its application for Decorah to host the event had been turned down.  WCCVB Director Charlene Selbee says it was just too big an event for the community to handle logistically.  For instance, the band would need 1,000 "hotel nights" for workers who would set up and run such an event.

"This was a big one to look at," admits Selbee, but she says even though Decorah didn't land the event, the process of applying for it will do wonders for future opportunities.

Selbee was approached by a concert promoter who works with the band, which likes its tours of the United States to include stops in two smaller communities.  The promoter will announce on February 1st which communities will get the concert stops, but sent a letter to the WCCVB this week, informing that Decorah was no longer in the running.

Selbee is looking at the positive side.  "We are set up now to continue these conversations," she says.  Those conversations would probably involve smaller audiences, but Selbee says the process of working through this past application has formed relationships that can continue in the future.