BISMARCK, N.D. — Pop the cork and start the bubble machine: North Dakota has agreed to buy the boyhood home of Lawrence Welk, the maestro of “champagne music” and one of the state’s most famous sons.

The North Dakota State Historical Society voted 6-5 Friday to buy the Strasburg homestead from Welk’s nieces, Evelyn Schwab, 84, and Edna Schwab, 80. The property in the southern part of the state has been listed for sale for more than a year, with an asking price of $125,000. A final price hasn’t been negotiated.

“Twenty years ago, we would never have thought of selling it,” Evelyn Schwab said. “The time has come now.”

The Schwabs have given tours of the farmstead since it was restored with private funds in the early 1990s. Welk donated about $140,000 for the restoration before his death in 1992 at age 89.

The site drew more than 7,000 people in 1992, but attendance has since slipped to only a few hundred per year.

Last year, the Legislature allocated $100,000 for the society’s purchase of the 6-acre homestead, but lawmakers stipulated that repairs must be made first. The purchase deal is contingent on repairs being made to the property, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The home on the outskirts of the town of about 400 people, many of whom still converse in German, features a life-size cutout of an accordion-wielding Welk to greet guests.