Duluth Fall Festival Offers Business Opportunities

The Duluth Fall Festival Committee feted members of the Duluth Merchants Association Tuesday (Aug. 2) with a buffet supper featuring appetizers, salads, sandwiches, and beverages donated by Costco Wholesale-Duluth and Duluth Fine Wine & Spirits.

Afterwards the committee presented a program on the benefits of businesses becoming sponsors and hosting booths at the festival, which attracts an estimated attendance of 80,000 to 100,000 to the Duluth Town Green and overflows onto downtown streets the last weekend in September. 

DMA President Sunny Ramsay introduced State Rep. Brooks Coleman, R-Duluth, who serves as the emcee for the Duluth Fall Festival and is known as the “Voice of the Festival.” Coleman welcomed everyone to the DMA meeting at the Duluth Festival Center and encouraged them to “get involved” in the fall festival. 

Wayne Herman, chairman of the 2011 festival, introduced members of the Duluth Fall Festival Executive Committee, composed of past festival chairpersons. This year’s dates are Sept. 24 and 25, Herman announced. 

Festivities at the annual fall event include a parade, 400 arts, crafts, sponsor and food booths, live entertainment on the Festival Center Stage and the Gazebo, a 5K road race, and a children’s activity area. A carnival added in 2010 returns in 2011 and opens Sept. 21.

The festival is put on by nearly 50 committees and 400 volunteers who wear colorful Duluth Fall Festival T-shirts specially designed each year, Herman said. Volunteers can sign up online on the festival website, he said. “If you don’t want to volunteer, please come to the festival,” Herman added.

Festival Sponsorship Committee Co-Chair Kathryn Willis, a former festival chair, briefly traced the history of the festival, which observes its 29th year this fall. The first festival held in the spring of 1962 on the streets of downtown Duluth lasted five weeks and celebrated the city’s history, Willis said. In 1976 another spring festival marked the centennial of the city’s charter. The current fall festival dates back to late October 1983. “It was cold and rainy, and we only cleared $300,” she said.

Festival proceeds have been used to build the Duluth Festival Center, which will be paid off next year, Willis said. The committee shared with the city the cost of purchasing land to develop Taylor Park next to Duluth City Hall and funded many other improvement and beautification projects in downtown Duluth, she said.

Willis also said the festival provides opportunities for residents to get to know each other. Planning for next year’s festival begins in October following the festival. It’s not all work, she said. “We have fun.” Committee members get together two evenings each month, she said, for dinner at a local restaurant on the first Thursday and then for a committee meeting on the second Thursday. 

Other committee activities include a summer rally at Willis’ home in June, a picnic at Wild Wally’s Party Shack Aug. 6, a free concert by Rupert’s Orchestra on the Duluth Festival Stage Sept. 10, and the “Taste of Duluth” featuring fare from Duluth restaurants at the Payne-Corley House Sept. 15. Her favorite event, Willis said, is the community lunch on the Town Green for festival workers including police officers, firefighters, city employees, and volunteers the Friday (Sept. 23) prior to its opening.

Cherie Richardson, co-chair of the Sponsorship Committee, reported on the progress of the sponsorship campaign. “Last year we raised $120,000 in sponsorships and in-kind services,” she said. “This year, we’re right at $80,000 so far.” Sponsor levels range from $10,000 to $500. Individuals can become Friends of the Festival for $250. The sponsor program was added in 1996, according to Willis.

The festival “draws the community together,” Coleman concluded, and provides opportunities for schools, churches, clubs, and other local groups to raise funds.

Gwinnett County Commissioner Shirley Lasseter revealed plans for the unveiling of the 9/11 Living Honorarium on the Duluth Town Green at 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 11, 2011, the 10th anniversary of terrorist attacks on the United States.

The monument will honor living police officers, firefighters, emergency service providers, and veterans. While serving as mayor of Duluth, Lasseter envisioned a memorial, now called an honorarium, and initiated the fund-raising campaign for it. The city has commissioned well-known Atlanta sculptor Martin Dawe of CherryLion Studios to create the monument.

Duluth Merchants Association Vice President Jim Johnson announced a DMA-sponsored motorcycle ride to pay for lighting the Living Honorarium on Saturday, Oct. 15, starting at Bunten Road Park with a pancake breakfast hosted by the Duluth Kiwanis. 

Registration is scheduled from 8 to 9 a.m. with kickstands up at 9:30 a.m. The ride will end at 12:30 p.m. at the Living Honorarium. A downtown celebration will offer food vendors, entertainment, and prize drawings. 

The cost to participate is $25 for riders and $15 for passengers including breakfast. Collector T-shirts will be given out to the first 100 registrants. For more information email Johnson at jimjohnson@jmsmgtconsulting.com or Benny Griffis at info@scorpion-cycles.com.

The next DMA meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 6, at Gwinnett Community Bank in Duluth.