Another Report Regarding Rock Gone Wild

This report comes from our friends at KIMT-TV.

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Diamond Jo says "No" to Rock Gone Wild


Northwood, IA- The future of a major rock festival is uncertain.

The General Manager of Diamond Jo Casino in Worth County tells us they're not allowing Rock Gone Wild to happen on any of the casino's licensed grounds.

Promoters are planning to issue a press release at 4:00pm on Friday. They were hoping for a crowd of ten thousand people, now they’re working with lawyers to come up with a plan.

We talked to several of the Management Companies who oversee some of the headlining acts. Some believe the event is still on while others think its all but dead.

Hundreds of people who had bought tickets to see major acts are wondering what will happen to their money; others living in Worth County invested a lot more.

Rodney Hagen has dreamed of creating an RV oasis right in his backyard for a long time.

"5 years ago I started kicking it around and last year we started digging the pond and just kept on going from there I guess," Hagen said.

But when he found out a major rock festival featuring international acts like Twisted Sister, George Thorogood and the Destroyers, And Puddle of Mudd had moved from Algona to just three miles away, he kicked his plans into high gear hoping to score some business.

"We were supposed to have a bulldozer here today and start hauling rock roads in tomorrow so we would have made it, it would have been close but we would have made it," he said.

With just five weeks notice, Hagen isn't the only one who rushed to make preparations for the event.

"Usually if something this big happens then we usually have about a year or so to get ready for something like this, but we're given basically five weeks to start looking into it and figure out what we're going to need and if we can take care of some things here," said Worth County Sheriff Jay Langenbau.

Langenbau says a meeting to discuss event safety and security with local emergency officials on Thursday afternoon was postponed. And there are more signs the event isn't happening as scheduled in Northwood.

Two weeks away from the concert there's still no agreement between the landowner who owns the property where the concert was planned and concert promoters. The landowners also tell us they're hesitant to move forward without support from the casino.

Hagen says whether it happens or not, the event won't make or break his plans.

"We just did it a lot faster than we would have planned on, maybe would have done a few things different, but no, we didn't go too crazy," Hagen said.

We're awaiting official word from rock gone wild promoters on the future of the festival.

On a Rock Gone Wild online discussion board, ticket holders are writing in with questions of a possible venue change.