Stillwater to Seek Proposals for Summer Event to Replace Lumberjack Days

For a large community event similar to Lumberjack Days to take shape next year in downtown Stillwater, the event planning process will have to get underway in the next couple of months.

So with the hopes of a community event returning to Stillwater next summer, the City Council on Tuesday night directed staff to draft a general request for proposal (RFP) for a large-scale community event.

Once drafted, the council will review the RFP, before entertaining ideas for a new summer festival and potentially lifting the moratorium on downtown events.

The directive to staff spun off of the continuing conversation about the job description of an event coordinator.

While details of that position—and a source of funding—are still being worked out, staff recommended the council consider a part-time employee with a salary ranging from $21,000-$30,000.

“The questions constantly come down: ‘Why aren’t we having Lumberjack Days? Are you guys sitting on your hands? Are you doing nothing to meet the needs of the residents?’” Ward 4 Council Member Mike Polehna said. “ I’ve heard it over and over, and if we sit here and don’t do something to proactively look at this and how we’re going to do it, we’re right back to where we were and we’re going to be criticized for not coming up with some sort of plan.

“A lot of the downtown businesses are losing a lot of money because there is no summer festival,” he continued. “They are also taxpayers.”

The community survey said the majority of the public enjoys Lumberjack Days and wants to have a festival downtown, Mayor Ken Harycki said. Unless the city starts going at this in August, a company is not going to have enough time to pull an event off by next year.

That sentiment was shared by all five members of the council.

“I’m worried that if we wait six to eight weeks to hire an event coordinator, then the event coordinator comes in to develop an RFP, you’re looking at November or December before that happens,” Polehna said. “Is that enough time to put something on next summer?”

The idea of the RFP is to try to get something started now—and then add the event coordinator to it during the budget process, Polehna said.

“I want to make sure we’re not losing sight that this is a family event and it’s coordinated by the city,” he said. “If we’re putting our brand on here, I want it to be sustainable. If we just let somebody go off and just run with it, we’re losing out again. We’re going right back to where we were. This position can bring our wants and needs, as well as continuity, to the process.”

A portion of the event coordinator’s salary could be paid from revenue generated from the event, Polehna said, but those are details for city staff to figure out.

“One option is to take a leap of faith,” Harycki said, “and as we go through the budget process, we put event coordinator on our list of wants and try to find a way to fund it through the general fund.“

Staff will bring ideas for the RFP back to the council to review in the next few weeks.