Duluth's Bentleyville to host drive-through light tour this year

DULUTH – The Bentleyville Tour of Lights will have a different feel this year as it converts to a drive-through display.

Nathan Bentley, executive director of the event, announced Wednesday that guests will tour the annual holiday display by car instead of on foot because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vehicles will line up in the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center's parking lot to make their way through the almost mile-long track, which will feature the event's traditional displays, a radio station syncing tunes to light patterns and a socially distant stop by Santa and Mrs. Claus where kids will get cookies and a souvenir winter hat.

This year's event will take place Nov. 21 through Dec. 27. Bentleyville will charge $10 per car, a change from years past when admission was free.

The event draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to Duluth over the holiday season and has become a crucial part of the city's strategy to become more of a year-round tourist destination.

At a news conference Wednesday, Duluth Mayor Emily Larson said the city hopes the revamped event will bolster holiday spirits and "continue to be an opportunity for families and people to have special time this winter, when so much is feeling disrupted and thrown off and pulled out from under us."

Hundreds of volunteers help with the annual setup starting in late September, though Bentley said he might not ask for as much assistance this year because of public health concerns. The displays are spread across 20 acres and involve more than 5 million lights.

Organizers will construct a temporary roadway through the city-owned park out of laminated hardwood mats often used for construction sites. They're also leasing the Sports Garden in Canal Park from Grandma's Restaurant Co. to have more space to sell gift shop merchandise.

Bentley said his team is working out final details, such as traffic flow and whether to allow guests to reserve specific times to drive through the display.

Anna Tanski, president of the city's nonprofit tourism bureau, said Bentleyville typically brings $20 million of economic activity to Duluth. At a time when the hospitality industry is reckoning with the financial blows from the pandemic, she said the holiday light show gives visitors a reason to visit Duluth during a season they otherwise might not.

"This is definitely going to be what all of us are looking forward to," she said.