Collinsville nightclub closes this weekend after almost 23 years in business
A Collinsville country music nightclub was sold and closed permanently Saturday night.
Wild Country’s former owner Mike Major said he and his two brothers are just tired of running the business, KSDK reported. He told the TV station they have owned the club for 22 years, eight months and 15 days.
While there was no post announcing the closure, the club’s “About me” section on Facebook confirmed the club was permanently closed.
“Thank you for over 22 years of memories and patronage. Wild Country is now closed,” the club’s Facebook states.
Comments in a recent post updating the club’s address varied in sentiment.
“Could have announced this sooner. Man, many years and many customers have come through those doors, what a sad, abrupt way to close the doors. Smh,” one user wrote.
“Please don’t do this!” another commenter wrote.
KSDK reported the club will be turned into a church and youth center. Additional information was not immediately available.
“... our teenage hangout closed down. We should have went back one last time!” another Facebook comment stated.
The club found itself in the middle of a peculiar case in 2016.
Lisa Soest, 22, of Imperial, Mo., had reported that she was raped in the parking lot of the Wild Country nightclub on Feb. 4, 2016. However, after several days of investigation police determined her report to be a false claim.
Major said he and his employees were a little skeptical of the assault report, but still took the initial allegation seriously.
Soest was charged with two felonies — disorderly conduct and obstructing justice — in connection with the rape report she made in February 2016. As part of a plea bargain, the obstruction charge was dismissed and the disorderly conduct charge was reduced to a misdemeanor.
This story was originally published January 7, 2019 at 7:47 AM.
