Saturday, September 25, 1999
Country's decline was behind Coyote's slide
BY LARRY NAGER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
There's no mystery in the closing of Coyote's Music and Dance Hall, the area's largest, longest-running country bar/concert venue, says Jim Willman, vice president of operations for its parent company, the Drawbridge.
“Lack of sales,” he explains. “The (national) shows were doing pretty well, but there were Wednesday and Thursday nights when there'd only be 150, 200 people in there.”
As country music boomed in the '90s, Coyote's, which opened in 1993 in the Oldenberg Brewery complex at the Drawbridge Estate in Fort Mitchell, drew 800 on weeknights and a couple of thousand people during the weekends.
But as country's popularity faded in recent years, attendance figures have dropped, Mr. Willman says — “way beyond half” those early totals.
“Right now, we're reviewing our options.”
The venue could be leased to an outside nightclub operator. The Drawbridge organization might rent it out it as a concert venue. Or, he says, “We'll open it ourselves as Oldenberg Great Hall, do business meetings, concerts, whatever we want.”
Coyote's closed Sept. 18. Refunds for tickets for future concerts can be obtained at point of purchase. An announcement regarding the venue's future is expected in the next few weeks.
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