GREEN BAY (NBC26) — One of the biggest weekends of the year for Green Bay has begun, starting with a state dart tournament and the Shinedown Concert on Wednesday. The Village of Ashwaubenon says its preparing for the weekend like it would a Packers home game.
- The WAMO State Dart Tournament runs May 13-17 at the Resch Expo.
- Luke Combs will perform at Lambeau Field on Friday and Saturday night.
- Village of Ashwaubenon President Joel Gregozeski says they're preparing for the weekend as they would for a Packers home game.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
On Wednesday, Richard Root gets ready for the first round of competition
“I compete in all the events, but my favorite one is cricket," he says.
He’s one of the thousands of dart players in town for the 41st Annual WAMO State Dart Tournament.
An event that happened to fall on the same weekend as the Shinedown rock concert, the EPIC Marathon, and two Luke Combs concerts at Lambeau Field.
“Green Bay is going to be packed this weekend, but we’re ready for all the shenanigans," Alicia Monday, WAMO Tournament director, says. "Parking has been a struggle. We have some bars and local areas that are opening their parking lots for us because of the concert.”
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Across the street from the Resch Expo and the dart tournament, Lambeau Stadium staff have been preparing for Luke Combs for months, according to Green Bay Packers director of public affairs, Aaron Popkey.
Popkey says staff attend Combs' concerts weeks in advance to understand what his performance will entail. He says they start physically setting up a week ahead of the concert.
"There’s a couple hundred people involved in getting things set up, then the stadium itself will have several hundred people," he says. “A lot of coordination and logistics, but Lambeau Field is a well-oiled machine when it comes to things like this.”
Popkey says the stadium will hold 40-50,000 people on Friday and Saturday night.
“It's the first time we’ve had an artist over two nights, so that’s something new for Lambeau," he says.
With an expected economic impact of tens of millions of dollars, it’s an exciting weekend for the Village of Ashwaubenon.
"I think operationally, we’re treating it very similar to a Packers weekend," Village President Joel Gregozeski says. "Our public safety officers and our public works officers are going to have a busy weekend, just to make sure that traffic is flowing smoothly and people are available to respond if need be.”
