Billionaire Kathy Cargill Calls Duluth ‘Small-Minded Community’ In WSJ Report

DULUTH, Minn. — Duluth is a “small-minded community.” That’s what billionaire Kathy Cargill told the Wall Street Journal this weekend, and she went on to say Mayor Roger Reinert “peed in his cheerios” when he sent a letter to her asking what her plans are for 20 properties she recently purchased on Park Point.

Cargill told the WSJ she still plans to keep her recently renovated vacation home on Park Point. But as for the other properties, he’s pulling back.

On Saturday, Cargill told the WSJ, “The good plans that I have down there for beautifying, updating and fixing up Park Point or putting up that sports court, forget it. There’s another community out there with more welcoming people than that small-minded community.”

Cargill said she planned to install a coffee shop on the point, and the sport court would have included pickleball, basketball and street hockey, according to the WSJ.

Cargill said she’s going to be “even more private” on what’s next for her Park Point properties because of Mayor Reinert and the community’s demands to know what she plans to do with the land.

“I’m not going to do anything to benefit that community,” Cargill told WSJ.

Kathy Cargill is the wife of James Cargill II. They are part owners of Cargill, Incorporated, which is the largest agricultural company in the world and headquartered in Minnesota.

FOX 21 reached out to Mayor Reinert Sunday for comment, but he said he was “100 percent focused on the storm.”