DULUTH — Bayfront Festival Park will be back under familiar management come 2025, as the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center resumes control of the popular outdoor venue after a year on the sidelines.
Winterfell Management LLC won the management contract last year following an abbreviated selection process that did not follow typical city protocols due to an abbreviated timeline. At the time, the DECC Executive Director Dan Hartman indicated a willingness to continue managing Bayfront but also expressed no opposition to having the work reassigned to Winterfell.
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Heading into 2025, the city issued a request for proposals, garnering responses from three interested parties, including the DECC and Winterfell, which scored first and second, respectively, when a review committee evaluated the candidates.
Jeff Stark, Winterfell’s president and founder, earlier expressed disappointment that his firm had not received a contract extension, as the city lined up Bayfront’s manager for the next five years.
Hartman said city staff had encouraged the DECC to take another run at overseeing Bayfront. He explained that the opening of Portside Park — a new outdoor venue located between the William A. Irvin and Pioneer Hall — requires closer coordination with Bayfront, and having both venues under DECC control should ensure stronger lines of communication, as well as better orchestration.
At large Councilor Azrin Awal thanked city administration for heeding the council’s request for a more conventional and thorough request-for-proposals review process as decisions about Bayfront’s management for the next five years were being made this time around.
The DECC will receive $443,031 over the next five years under the Bayfront management contract approved Monday. The DECC also will share a portion of revenues with the city as part of the agreement.
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