welkhome2smallBISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – Officials say attendance rose slightly at the boyhood home of famous band leader Lawrence Welk after the state took over the site this summer
 
     But with only a few hundred tourists each paying $5 to see the birthplace of the polka-playing bandleader, officials says there likely will never be enough tourists visiting the site to cover costs for its operations.
 
     Site manager Diane Rogness says since the state took over operations July 1, about 730 people in July and August visited homestead in Strasburg.
 
     Last year, only about 650 people visited the site.
 
     The Legislature two years ago approved $100,000 to purchase the property from Welk’s nieces
 
     Rogness says the Welk farmstead, like most other historic sites in the state, was never intended to be a moneymaker.