DULUTH — Management of Duluth's signature scenic outdoor performance venue could shift from the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center (DECC) to a private company made up of former center employees if City Council approves of the contract on Monday.

Winterfell Management LLC, which is led by President Jeff Stark, would be in charge of production, promotion and management of events at Bayfront Festival Park, a park of 10-plus acres on the Duluth Harbor that annually hosts the summer's biggest shows, such as Trampled by Turtles, the Bayfront Blues Festival and a recently announced Willie Nelson concert.

Winterfell would receive a base fee of $63,425 for work that would run from Feb. 1 through Dec. 31, according to the contract.

Stark, the former DECC director of operations, was among a handful of employees whose positions were eliminated in 2023. He had worked at the convention center for nearly three decades and was charged with overseeing events at Bayfront Festival Park.

The DECC has managed Bayfront for the past decade in a role that executive director Dan Hartman described this week as "community service." The park was managed privately — with mixed results — before former Duluth Mayor Don Ness asked the convention center to take over its operations.

"Financially, it has never been good for the DECC," Hartman said this week. He said the park has been a distraction from the convention center's other venues, which bring in more money for the city.

The city's chief administrative officer, David Montgomery, said during Thursday's agenda session that DECC officials expressed interest in shedding management of the park and that the city needed to move quickly. While there was not time to issue a request for a proposal, he said, one will be issued in the fall for the start of 2025 for a single or multiyear agreement.

"We came away confident and comfortable with what Winterfell was capable of doing without losing anything in the cracks in between," Montgomery said.

Stark is partnered with Dan Russell, who was the DECC executive director for 28 years. All concerts previously scheduled for the park will go on, in addition to future events arranged by Winterfell.