Bentleyville Staying Busy in 2020, Founder Asks for More Food and Toy Donations

It's another busy night in Bentleyville. The popular holiday attraction has been seeing anywhere from 700-1,000 cars a night.

DULUTH, Minn.– Bright lights and Christmas music have filled Bayfront Park as Bentleyville 2020 is going strong as they work to navigate through their unique format due to the pandemic.

It’s another busy night in Bentleyville. The popular holiday attraction has been seeing anywhere from 700-1,000 cars a night.

“They have parties inside their cars, they order food in advance, they got games in advance for their kids,” said Bentleyville organizer Nathan Bentley.

But all the traffic for the drive-thru tour has caused more guests to be turned away, founder Nathan Bentley says, with cars backed over a mile long down Garfield Avenue and Railroad Street, filling both lanes.

Bentley encourages those who are able to come in on weekdays or later in the night to avoid the big traffic jams.

“There’s this assumption that everybody has to get here early,” said Bentley. “And if they actually came here later and spread everybody out, we probably would not even have to shut it down early. But everyone comes and there is just no room to put cars.”

One of the biggest missions of the attraction is to donate food and toys to those in need every year. But this year, Bentley says due to the financial setbacks from the pandemic, they have been noticing a sharp decrease in donations from visitors.

“Being really blunt, it’s been really, really bad for us,” said Bentley. “We have a wagon and that wagon hasn’t even been filled up tonight. And we’ve been open for an hour and we can’t even get a wagon full of food and toys. So we’re so strongly asking people to please remember to bring some food and toys when you come down here for the less fortunate, people that really, really need it.”

Bentley hopes to see an increase in donations before they close for the season on December 27.