Management Of Bayfront Festival Park Set To Return To DECC

DULUTH, Minn. — Management of Duluth’s premier entertainment venue, Bayfront Festival Park, is headed back to the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center for the next five years if the council signs off on Monday.

For the last year, Winterfell Management has handled all promotions, productions and management of Bayfront with a one-year agreement with the city.

Newly elected Mayor Roger Reinert chose the company to lead the venue in 2024 because he said there wasn’t enough time to put out a Request for Proposals (RFP) between the transition of the Emily Larson administration and his own, which began in January of this year.

Jeff Stark is the president of Winterfell Management. He previously managed Bayfront Festival Park for 10 years as a DECC employee before being let go due to budget cuts.

Dan Russell is vice president of Winterfell and the DECC’s former longtime executive director.

Stark and Russell were responsible during their DECC days for building Bayfront from 12 events a year in 2012 to more than 40, and taking attendance from 30,000 to 150,000, according to Stark during an interview with FOX 21 earlier this year.

But after an RFP process issued Oct. 29, 2024, a selection committee of city staff, using a 100-point judging scale, chose to send the five-year management contract back under the DECC’s control and under the leadership of Exec. Dir. Dan Hartman worth roughly $443,000. There were three organizations that submitted proposals. Two were local, one was out of the region, according to a city spokesperson.

Bayfront Festival Park Selection Committee:

Jessica Peterson, Manager, Parks and Recreation (process lead)

Jessica Hehir, Sr. Advisor, Communications and Marketing

Jim Filby Williams, Director, Property Parks and Libraries

Erik Birkeland, Manager, Property and Facilities

Joe Miller, Parks and Grounds Maintenance Manager

Winterfell Management said they are disappointed to not get a chance to build on the successes of 2024.

The following statement is from Stark and Russell, which was sent to their partners and friends about the loss of Bayfront’s next contract:

To our Partners and Friends,

We are sad to share that our time managing Bayfront Festival Park will soon come to an end.

By all metrics, 2024 was a tremendous success and looked to be a pivotal building block to Bayfront’s continued development as the premiere outdoor venue in the Midwest. Records were set in attendance, booked dates and revenues generated for the City of Duluth.

Winterfell was poised to carry that momentum into 2025 and beyond, with a comprehensive plan on attracting and building new events, exemplary service to existing partners and a revenue production model that would provide for much needed upgrades to this community asset.

In a “prove it” year, we felt that Winterfell had indeed proven our company was the best fit for the future of Bayfront. We value relationships, operate creatively to ensure success and our focus was squarely on Bayfront Festival Park’s future. In 2024 we formed a staff of over 100 people, involved over a dozen non-profits and partnered with numerous local businesses to produce the largest events in the area.

As a personal aside, our collective involvement with Bayfront for 13 out of the past 14 years has been incredibly rewarding as we’ve assisted in drawing visitors from all over the world, bringing a diverse array of events to the space and forming amazing friendships and partnerships along the way.

Winterfell will continue to be involved in producing a number of events in the area as well as nationally, but will miss our summers spent at Bayfront.

Thank you all for the important roles you play in Bayfront Park’s popularity and success.

FOX 21 reached out to Hartman for comment Wednesday evening, but he said the city has requested public statements wait until after the city council meeting on Monday because negotiations are ongoing.