09.a Vinterfest Report - Zauner1
b.eklund
From:Greg Zauner <
Sent:Sunday, February 15, 2026 12:54 PM
To:b.stignani; b.eklund
Cc:Terry Gorham
Subject:Vinterfest Coordinator Report 2-17-26 Council Meeting
Brenda, please include this in the Council packet. Unfortunately, I'm not able to attend the Council
meeting. I realize it's late, but I think the PW report should be officially addressed.
This was the coldest Vinterfest I've seen in the 15 years I've been involved with Vinterfest. Obviously,
it isn't always that cold. Now we have an idea of the limits of the Zamboni for future reference. That's
a good thing.
According to Corey there was only one fight. Both were players. One of the people involved in the
fight was kicked out of the tournament.
Professional sports teams encourage bringing the whole family. They sell adult beverages there.
There is also the possibility of a fight on or off the ice/field in professional sports. Other "adult"
behavior is also possible. Are they also falsely advertised them as family friendly events?
The accusation that the Minnesotan's proceeds go to the city for maintenance is false. It was
removed from the website years ago when he started donating $1000 to the fireworks instead of
maintenance.
This is the only outdoor amateur adult real hockey tournament in Minnesota (unless you consider
pond hockey real hockey). There are already many options for youth hockey. We don't need more.
There's no guarantee that youth won't fight or cause other problems. It will cost the same for Public
Works to prepare and maintain the ice for a youth tournament as it does for adults. Chances are local
youth hockey tournament won't donate or contribute anything to the fireworks or businesses.
Therefore, a youth tournament would have less benefit to the City, Vinterfest, residents, and
businesses than the adult tournament.
Before the Vinterfest adult hockey tournament, we had open pleasure skating on the rink. Hardly
anyone took advantage of it. So we already know it wouldn't be a well attended Vinterfest event.
We have plenty of family friendly events. Parents that choose to shelter their children from adult
behavior can easily avoid the rink. They can certainly walk from the Community Center to
Gammelgården without going by the rink. It's the parents right and duty to decide what they want their
children exposed to. It's part of parenting.
As far as contributing to the local businesses is concerned, I didn't check with restaurants (probably
too long ago for them to remember now). I asked Roxy (at the liquor store) last week. She verified
she does get more business because of Vinterfest. There are hours between games. Most of the
players are out of town so it isn't cost effective for them to go home. Players most likely check out the
restaurants and businesses in town. It's too late now to do a business usage survey.
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Food trucks aren't overly used. We don't need more of them. It may reduce income of the ones that
are there to a level where they may not want to come back.
Since calling Vinterfest a family friendly festival has been questioned. To avoid confusion it can
simply be rebranded to:
Vinterfest has something for everyone. There are family friendly events in Scandia’s Community
Center and Gammelgården. We have the largest outdoor amateur adult hockey tournament in
Minnesota.
Greg Zauner
Vinterfest Coordinator