Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Paris and London are all stops on Metallica’s WorldWired tour this year.
Newton is also on the list of destinations.
Iowa Speedway will play host to the metal legends on June 9, and all proceeds from the event will benefit the Native Fund. Opening acts Avenged Sevenfold and Volbeat will also journey to small-town Iowa.
The Speedway boasts a capacity of 37,000 people for the event, which is more than double the population of Newton. To put it in simple terms: it’s going to be huge.
Newton establishments, especially places that host overnight guests, are feeling it. The Super 8 hotel in town sold out within two hours of the Metallica announcement. Super 8 General Manager Scott Lester said it impacted the business hard in a good way.
“When an unknown event like this pops up, it just kind of pushes everything ahead,” Lester said. “We’ve been preparing a lot for it.”
Day-to-day operations at the 43-room Super 8 are affected by the event. Running at full capacity influences how much breakfast food to order and prepping rooms need to be at top-notch quality, according to Lester. The hotel general manager said an event like this puts Newton on the map.
“It benefits all of Newton when we have something like this,” Lester said. “Not only do they visit the lodging, but they visit the restaurants, the shopping. It’s great for the economy of Newton, I believe.”
Newton’s AmericInn Lodge sold out for Metallica within days of the announcement.
“It’s a great thing for our business,” said AmericInn General Manager Teresa Meyer. “We would thoroughly enjoy them to have more events such as this because our business does benefit from such a regional activity.”
People who live within a 50-mile radius of an event usually don’t stay the night in town, Meyer said. The Metallica concert is pulling in people from farther away. Meyer said she hopes the city can grow Newton Fest into a destination, too, for people to travel to Newton and stay the night.
Some Metallica fans are bringing tents to Newton. The KOA campgrounds is completely full for the weekend of the concert.
June Dewar, who works in the office at KOA, said the campground is overflowing and still receiving multiple calls every day about available camping space. She said the campground is prepared for the concert because KOA gets packed at regular Iowa Speedway events. This event is a little different for the city as a whole, though.
“It’s quite an impact,” Dewar said. “We don’t know what to expect, actually. It’s never happened that we’ve had something like this.”
To be overflowing is good for income, Dewar said, but it’s a problem because people coming off the road have no place to stay in the area.
“That makes it really hard because everything — motels, every camp ground — everything’s full around here,” Dewar said.
Law enforcement is impacted by the Native Fund spectacle, too. The Jasper County Sheriff’s Office is providing additional staff to work the event. According to Sheriff John Halferty, the office is also staffing additional dispatchers.
“There’s always the potential for calls for service to increase,” Halferty said. “We want to prepare for that, and we also want it to be a good, positive event for the county as well.”
Metallica is playing at the Iowa Speedway, but it isn’t a Speedway event. The racetrack is essentially renting out its space to the Native Fund. Because of this, local law enforcement agencies have a contract with the Native Fund-related MATIS 2017, LLC.
At a normal Speedway event, the Speedway would reimburse local law enforcement agencies for working the event. In this particular case, MATIS will reimburse the Newton Police Department, Jasper County Sheriff’s Office and the Iowa State Patrol.
Halferty said the biggest impact of an event this size is usually traffic. The sheriff’s office has a plan in place that essentially mirrors what it does for any Speedway event. Law enforcement won’t stray too far from regular Speedway event protocol because it has been working well, Halferty said.
Contact Justin Jagler at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jjagler@newtondailynews.com