By Noah Farley
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) — The Mountain America Center has already become a staple of the eastern Idaho community after only being open a few years.
Local News 8 spoke with the center's general manager to take a look back on the center's short history and a look forward at what's to come.
The Mountain America Center has hosted sports shows like the Harlem Globetrotters to musical acts like Lindsey Stirling.
The idea for the center started back in 2010. It finally opened in November 2022. Since then, the center has hosted over 200 ticketed events.
“Over half a million people have come into this facility in two and a half years. It's unbelievable. I think the original predictions were 100,000 people a year, and we've blown that out of the water,” said Mountain America Center General Manager Erik Hudson.
Even more well-known acts are coming to the center this year like Brad Paisley and "Weird Al" Yankovic.
Hudson says there will be more shows with genres ranging from rock to country and more. He also says he and his coworkers try to avoid having an over-saturation of events to the point where they don't feel special anymore. The goal is to have quality events over quantity.
“We like to have a lot of events, but not too many that it ruins the experience for people,” Hudson said.
Hudson greatly appreciates the support and interest the community has shown the Mountain America Center. He says he wants to bring even more for the public to enjoy like more athletic competitions and more ice.
"The people of Idaho Falls have really spoken out about how much they love hockey and figure skating," Hudson said. "So I'd like to see some more opportunities for that in the future."
You can find a link to the Mountain America Center's events this year here.