Northern Wisconsin Country Music Festival Given Green-Light For July

Hodag
 – Hodag Lineup 2020

A country music festival in northern Wisconsin won approval to stage the event in July, despite opposition from the county health department and the cancellation of similar large-scale events across the state and country due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Hodag Country Festival, slated for July 9 through July 12 in Rhinelander, won approval Tuesday from the Oneida County public safety committee. Festival organizers must implement 25 public safety measures, including providing masks for employees and volunteers and encouraging festival attendees to wear masks and practice social distancing.
About 16,000 people a day are expected for the festival, which has been held for more than 40 years. Performers scheduled to appear include Travis Tritt, Darius Rucker and Lee Greenwood. 
“The people are already here,” said board member Mitch Ives, as reported by Wisconsin Public Radio. “The tourism season already started. … Six weeks from now, we’re going to have an influx of way more than 30,000 people into Oneida County. That’s already seen in our Home Depot, our Walmart. People have not been social distancing in this county for a couple weeks now.”
About two-thirds of the comments submitted to the board were in opposition to holding the festival.