By Jake Fogal

BLOOMINGTON – It was another successful showing for Tailgate and Tallboys earlier this month, as the country music festival headlined by Nickelback, Kane Brown and Jelly Roll entertained thousands of people at the Interstate Center in Bloomington, but cell phone service took a plunge during the Twin Cities big summer spectacle.

Cell phone service for the second consecutive year was hard to reach for the general public. Bloomington Police Chief Jamal Simington says law enforcement ran into the issue in 2022, but were assured the problem would be fixed by cell phone providers.

Simington spoke with WJBC’s Scott Miller.

“This year the experience was not as bad, but it was difficult for non-law enforcement, and non-public safety users to get on the network. We were assured as we approached this year in our planning process that engineers had programed those cell towers to accept more cell phones and provide a better coverage,” Simington said.

“In our assessment, we think they failed.”

BPD’s Police Chief say’s the department will work to find a better solution ahead of next year’s event.

“The partners involved in the planning process had conversations with the main providers. They(cell phone providers) assured us last year that there would be no issues, of course we experienced issues. More so the public then the police. We will continue to have conversations with them so that we can have the problem remedied for next year. ” Simington added.

Cell Phone providers could offer temporary tower’s at next year’s festival to increase coverage for the area, according to Simington. He added that city officials will push for the towers to expand cell phone usage.

Tailgate and Tallboys has already announced Eric Church as a headliner for next year’s event at the Interstate Center. The four day event will kick off on June 12, and run through June 15, 2024.

Jake Fogal can be reached at [email protected].