{"slides":[{"media_title":"2nd Annual Smoke 'n Shine","media_tagline":"","event_body":"For the Second year, June 28th-29th, we will be be back at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks! Stay tuned here, and on our Facebook page for updates on the 2025 Show! We are working hard to make this event bigger and better so mark your calendars and get working on those vehicles for June 28th-29th!\n\nThanks to our growing list of sponsors and supporters, this entire event will be completely FREE for all public attendees! If you are participating in any of the main events you will have to pay though. We are a non profit just wanting to have a great time with fellow gearheads and bring something fun and interesting to our community. If you would like to donate before, during, or after the event, please do so via the donate button at the bottom of the page.\n\nLastly, if you want to stay updated on this event, please sign up for our newsletter below. Or find us at our Facebook page. See you all in June!\n","media_file_type":"img","media_file_placeholder":null,"media_file_name":"https:\/\/www.aleruscenter.com\/assets\/img\/Alerus-Event-Banner-18387e25f0.png","media_link":"https:\/\/www.aleruscenter.com\/events\/detail\/2nd-annual-smoke-n-shine","ticket_link":"","event_date":"Jun<\/span> 28 - 29<\/span>, 2025<\/span>","promos":"home","media_thumb":"https:\/\/www.aleruscenter.com\/assets\/img\/Alerus-Event-Cover-b93c90d7ed.png","venue_id":"1","venue_title":"Alerus Center","venue_uri":"venue-main-name","category":{"name":"Other","id":"0"}},{"media_title":"Cole Swindell Happy Hour Sad Tour","media_tagline":"Presented by Pepper Entertainment","event_body":"Multi-Platinum selling and award-winning superstar Cole Swindell will bring his 2025 headlining Happy Hour Sad Tour, to the Alerus Center on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025, produced by Pepper Entertainment. Joining the four-time ACM Award winner on his Happy Hour Sad Tour are special guest Priscilla Block and Greylan James. \n\nSwindell’s Down Home Crew will have the opportunity to purchase tickets for the Happy Hour Sad Tour during the “Down Home Crew Presale” beginning Tuesday, April 8 at 10 a.m. local. Tickets start at $39.50 plus applicable fees and go on sale to the public on Friday, April 11, at 10 a.m. \n\nThe Happy Hour Sad Tour, named after a new song on his upcoming 5th studio album, Spanish Moss, scheduled for release on June 27. Spanish Moss also includes Swindell’s current Top 5 and rising single “Forever To Me,” which he co-wrote (with Greylan James and Rocky Block) in honor of his engagement and wedding to his new bride Courtney last year. The Top 5 single is as relevant for his life now as it now marks and honors the upcoming birth of his first child this fall, a daughter. \n\nAbout Cole Swindell:\n\nCountry music superstar and multi-award winner Cole Swindell released new music from his upcoming fifth studio album, Spanish Moss, for Warner Music Nashville including his current Top 10 and rising radio single “Forever To Me,” and most recently the digital-only releases of “Spanish Moss,” “Kill A Prayer,” “One Day” and  “3 Feet Tall,” which Country Now called a “Song of the Year contender” and “one of the most important songs Cole Swindell has ever released.” Spanish Moss will be available June 27.\n\nSwindell, who Rolling Stone has called “a proven hit-maker,” charted three back-to-back, Platinum-certified, multi-week No. 1 hits off his fourth studio album, Stereotype: “Single Saturday Night,” “Never Say Never” (with Lainey Wilson) and the five-week 3x Platinum chart-topper “She Had Me At Heads Carolina” that garnered three ACM Awards for Single of the Year and Song of the Year (as songwriter and artist), an iHeart Music Award for Country Song of the Year and received a nomination for Musical Event of the Year for “She Had Me At Heads Carolina” with Jo Dee Messina for the 57th CMA Awards. He released a special duet remix of his smash “She Had Me At Heads Carolina” featuring Messina that has produced multiple award nominations and is included on his deluxe album Stereotype Broken, which also includes his 2023 Top 10 single “Drinkaby.” \n\n \n\nAbout Pepper Entertainment\n\nFounded in July 2006, Pepper Entertainment (PE) is an independent promotions company headquartered in Sioux Falls, SD. With over 25 years of combined experience, Pepper has rapidly scaled to become one of the Midwest's leading promotion firms. The company specializes in a wide range of services, including live event promotions, corporate and private event talent buying, club and performing arts center programming, as well as media and marketing services.\n\nPepper Entertainment ranks among the Top 100 Worldwide Promoters according to Pollstar Magazine. The company has also earned recognition in the industry, including a nomination for ACM Promoter of the Year in both 2020 and 2024, and CMA Talent Buyer\/Promoter of the Year in 2022. Pepper has offices in Sioux Falls, SD, Minneapolis, MN, and Boise, ID.\n","media_file_type":"img","media_file_placeholder":null,"media_file_name":"https:\/\/www.aleruscenter.com\/assets\/img\/ColeSwindell-GrandForks-092725-1220px560-65be725ee8.jpg","media_link":"https:\/\/www.aleruscenter.com\/events\/detail\/swindell","ticket_link":"Buy Tickets<\/a>","event_date":"Sep<\/span> 27<\/span>, 2025<\/span>","promos":"home","event_time":"7:00pm","media_thumb":"https:\/\/www.aleruscenter.com\/assets\/img\/ColeSwindell-GrandForks-092725-740px710-2b8259feaf.jpg","venue_id":"1","venue_title":"Alerus Center","venue_uri":"venue-main-name","category":{"name":"Other","id":"0"}},{"media_title":"Throne MMA","media_tagline":"","event_body":"Throne MMA returns to the Alerus Center for an intense night of fights featuring slick submissions, and jaw-dropping knockouts!\n\nDoors will open at 6:00pm. Fights start at 7:00pm.\n\nTickets available now!\n\n-----------\n\nThis event was originally scheduled for May 3. All previously purchased tickets for the May 3 fights will be honored for the new date (October 10). If you are unable to attend, refunds are available at your original point of purchase.\n\nIf there are any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact the Transystems Box Office at (701) 792-1417 during business hours (10am-5pm Monday through Friday).\n","media_file_type":"img","media_file_placeholder":null,"media_file_name":"https:\/\/www.aleruscenter.com\/assets\/img\/Website-Cover-Image-10df1c01b0.png","media_link":"https:\/\/www.aleruscenter.com\/events\/detail\/throne2025","ticket_link":"Buy Tickets<\/a>","event_date":"Oct<\/span> 10<\/span>, 2025<\/span>","promos":"home","event_time":"7:00pm","media_thumb":"https:\/\/www.aleruscenter.com\/assets\/img\/Website-Thumbnail-1287e1c02d.png","venue_id":"1","venue_title":"Alerus Center","venue_uri":"venue-main-name","category":{"name":"Other","id":"0"}},{"media_title":"Styx with special guest Loverboy","media_tagline":"Presented by Pepper Entertainment","event_body":"Rock legends Styx and Loverboy are teaming up for a must-see tour, promising fans an unforgettable evening of classic hits and electrifying performances. They will be making a stop at the Alerus Center on Tuesday, November 11. Tickets start at $49.50 plus applicable fees and go on sale Friday, April 4, at 10 a.m.\n\nAbout Styx\n\nThe seven men comprising Styx--James “JY” Young (lead vocals, guitars), Tommy Shaw (lead vocals, guitars), Chuck Panozzo (bass, vocals), Todd Sucherman (drums, percussion), Lawrence Gowan (lead vocals, keyboards), CRASH OF THE CROWN producer and co-writer Will Evankovich (guitars), Terry Gowan (bass, vocals)--have committed to rocking the Paradise together with audiences far and wide by entering their second decade of averaging 100 shows a year, and each one of them is committed to making the next show better than the last. Styx draws from over five decades of barn-burning chart hits, joyous singalongs, and hard-driving deep cuts. Like a symphony that builds to a satisfying crescendo, a Styx set covers a wide range of stylistic cornerstones. From the progressively sweeping splendor that is “The Grand Illusion” to the hunker-down fortitude of all that is the “Blue Collar Man,” from the regal reach-for-the-stars bravado of “Come Sail Away” to the grainy all-in gallop of that rugged “Renegade” who had it made, the band draws on an unlimited cache of ways to immerse one’s mind and body in their signature sound.\n\nAfter more than two decades together on the road, this incarnation of Styx is looking forward to performing as many shows as it can as long as it can. “Music is this amazing force that comes from a higher place. I'm humbled for this band to have the great success that it has,” says co-founding guitarist\/vocalist James “JY” Young. “The legacy of this band will be that it brought joy to millions of people,” notes drummer Todd Sucherman. Observes keyboardist\/vocalist Lawrence Gowan, “We’ve always tried to explain why this is this happening. It’s obviously a multitude of factors, but the main one is that our show is really good! And if it’s really good, they’re going to come to see it again.” Styx hopes it’s a wave that never crests. “Every night, we go on that magic carpet ride together,” observes original bassist Chuck Panozzo, who joins the band on tour as often as he can. “We just want to keep on doing this,” asserts Tommy. “We want to let life take its course and let this music continue to be the soundtrack to it. And this band will continue to evolve as long as we live and play this music.”\n\nAbout Loverboy\n\nFor more than 40 years, LOVERBOY has been “Working for the Weekend” (and on weekends), delighting audiences around the world since forming in 1978, when vocalist Mike Reno was introduced to guitar hot shot Paul Dean – both veterans of several bands on the Canadian scene – at Calgary’s Refinery Night Club. Along with Reno and Dean, LOVERBOY still includes original members Doug Johnson on keyboards and Matt Frenette on drums, with Ken “Spider” Sinnaeve (a former member of Dean and Frenette’s pre-LOVERBOY band Streetheart), replacing the late Scott Smith on bass, and continues a healthy touring schedule around the world. \n\nAbout Pepper Entertainment\n\nEstablished in July of 2006, Pepper (PE) is based in Sioux Falls, SD. As one of the fastest scaling, independent promotions company in the Midwest, PE, collectively, exceeds 25 years of experience spanning a broad scope of industry specialties, such as; Live Promotions, Corporate & Private Event Talent Buying, Club & Performing Art Center Programming & Media & Marketing Services. Pepper currently ranks 27th of the Top 100 Worldwide Promoters according to Pollstar Magazine and was nominated for ACM Promoter of the Year in 2020 and CMA Talent Buyer\/Promoter of the Year in 2002.  Pepper holds offices in Sioux Falls, SD, Minneapolis, MN and Boise, ID.\n","media_file_type":"img","media_file_placeholder":null,"media_file_name":"https:\/\/www.aleruscenter.com\/assets\/img\/Styx-GrandForks-111125-1220px560-bab73848da.jpg","media_link":"https:\/\/www.aleruscenter.com\/events\/detail\/styx","ticket_link":"Buy Tickets<\/a>","event_date":"Nov<\/span> 11<\/span>, 2025<\/span>","promos":"home","event_time":"7:30pm","media_thumb":"https:\/\/www.aleruscenter.com\/assets\/img\/Styx-GrandForks-111125-740px710-6c5a3c0cfb.jpg","venue_id":"1","venue_title":"Alerus Center","venue_uri":"venue-main-name","category":{"name":"Other","id":"0"}}]}