Massive music festivals illustrate new uses for Sioux Falls Stadium

Sioux Falls apparently loves tacos, adult beverages and early 2000s hip-hop.

Just ask the organizers of the traveling Tacos and Tequila Festival that stopped in the city for the first time earlier this month.

“They told us it’s (usually) a small start, and people trickle in,” said Brian Jamros, president of the Sioux Falls Canaries.

“We had 7,500 people in the first hour and a half. They’d never seen that.”

By the time Ginuwine and Lil Jon took the stage that night, the crowd had swelled to its 10,000-person capacity.

The following night — a Sunday — brought nearly 6,000 visitors for the Not Just a Phase Festival, again featuring bands known for their hits from the 1990s and 2000s.

“It was great,” said Joshua James, senior vice president of social outreach for Social House Entertainment, the Kansas City-area company that produces the traveling festivals.

“I feel like it was a market we really didn’t know what to think about. We didn’t have super-high expectations, but we also were optimistic, and working with the Canaries, everything exceeded our expectations, which was great.”

The Canaries connected with the event company as a way to bring new uses to the stadium, located at the Denny Sanford Premier Center complex.

At first, the city’s market size was a tough sell to a company used to drawing audiences in Chicago and Milwaukee.

“But they ultimately took a chance on us, and we’re so appreciative of it,” Jamros said.

A ticket to the event wasn’t cheap. Presale tickets started around $50, but VIP passes neared $270. A beverage averaged $14. A mini taco was $7.

That didn’t deter visitors, though, and it meant added revenue to the stadium, along with increased visibility to a crowd more inclined to take in a hip-hop concert than a baseball game.

There was a broader visitor impact too, Jamros said.

“We had people from all over the country for two or three hotel nights,” he said, adding that anecdotally he heard of hotel rooms renting for $600 to $700 those nights.

“We had people in town from Minneapolis, and they were downtown on Friday before the event and said it was packed and fun and people were talking about it. So it’s not only the financial impact for us but the community.”

The crowd encompassed “a lot of Minnesota ZIP codes down to Omaha,” he continued. “We got quite a bit and then up to North Dakota.”

Social House Entertainment plans to announce soon the dates to save for a festival next year, James said.

“Absolutely, this is a multiyear play for us,” he said. “It’s not a one and done. Clearly, the market is hungry for outdoor live events.”

For the most part, Social House events cater to a 25-to-54-year-old crowd, he added. Many of the events are held in stadiums similar to the one in Sioux Falls.

“Almost every hotel was sold out on Saturday night, which is amazing,” he added. “It definitely is a unique event, and people will travel in. I talked with many from Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, even those further out. We had some from Atlanta and Texas. They’re unique-enough events it makes sense to make a little vacation out of it and spend a weekend in a city they’ve never been to.”

The company also produces custom events such as food and music festivals for communities and organizations.

The future of Sioux Falls Stadium, however, continues to be a murky one, five years after a study group recommended demolishing the home of the Sioux Falls Canaries, which was built in 1964, once the city determined a new stadium site. No relocation proposals have advanced.

While the proposed redevelopment of the Riverline District downtown includes the idea of relocating the Sioux Falls Convention Center, it doesn’t address the future of the baseball stadium.

“There’s conversations always taking place,” said Jamros, while adding that nothing has been solidified or has a timeline. “We just want to continue to be a good partner. We keep saying, ‘This is our home.’ How do we make this the best it can possibly be?’ And if someone wants to continue or advance a conversation, we will listen and be involved. But right now, our focus is on the end of this season and making sure when the fans come through the last home games that they have a good experience.”

Late this fall, the venue again will host a series of Halloween-themed nights. Other groups, including Sioux Falls Pride, have rented it for private events. And the Canaries are open to adding more events as they fit the schedule and allow enough time to get the grounds back in shape for baseball, Jamros said.

For Social House, “the venue is older but has a lot of character,” James said. “And I think being able to do the extension of premises and fit food trucks in was fantastic, and that helps tremendously. Just the way the stadium is set up, going through feedback from our attendees, they didn’t have many complaints. I think the stadium did exactly what we needed it to do.”