UPDATED: City Council Gives a Thumbs Down to 'Stillwater River Days'

The Stillwater City Council agreed Tuesday night that now is not the time to replace the Lumberjack Days Festival.

Robert Hart and Jesse Kurtz of Valley Promotions gave an eight-minute presentation about their plans for "Stillwater River Days" Tuesday night, but city council members said they were not ready to replace "one big festival with another."

Hart told the council that he believes it is "vitally important" that Stillwater continues the Lumberjack Days tradition--and Valley Promotions is ready to do just that.

Valley Promotions proposes a family-friendly event in the tradition of what used to be called "Play Days," Hart said. That tradition goes back to the 1930s and 40s. In those days, the festival was a simple, straightforward celebration that was very much family-oriented.

"Things have since gotten more complicated, but the tradition of having a summer festival in Stillwater are well-entrenched," Hart said.

There have been business and conduct issues in the past several years, but nothing to the point where the city should say no more, he said.

"Valley Promotions believes that sitting out for two or three years will irreparably damage Stillwater's image as a lively, go-to destination," Hart said. "Moving forward will help the community heal, rather than wallow in what has passed."

But Stillwater Mayor Ken Harycki said the community needs time to reassess where it is going to go with Lumberjack Days, or a replacement festival, if that were to happen.

“For six years we’ve been caught in a crossfire up here between all the different entities or groups either saying this is great or it is harming us,” Harycki said. “As a community we need to come together, get some consensus on this and figure out what it is that we want. I think it is going to take some time to get there. I’m not ready to jump into that this year.”

A lot of people are wondering what is going to happen, and several groups are willing to bring proposals forward, Council Member Mike Polehna said. But the city has to figure out how it will be done and select who will do it.

“This talk of holding back Lumberjack Days for two or three years, I’m not in favor of that at all,” he said.

Council Member Doug Menikheim said he agrees with Harycki and Polehna.

The community needs to come together to figure out what type of festival the city should support, Menikheim said.

"I'm hearing people say we need to take some time off," he said. "We need to heal."

Council Member Jim Roush said he is concerned about having another big festival replace Lumberjack Days this summer.

"I don't want to exchange one large festival for another large festival," he said.

UPDATED: From 12:13 p.m. Monday

The debate about whether or not Stillwater needs a summer festival to replace the has begun to heat up in anticipation of the Mar. 6 city council meeting.

Tuesday evening will mark the first time the city council will officially listen to a proposal from Jesse Kurtz, a local business owner touting what he is calling Stillwater River Days. 

According to Kurtz, he and a business partner founded Valley Promotions LLC for the express purpose of bringing the community back together with a lively, fun, safe summer festival—an event that already boasts sponsorship dollars from .   

“The only obstacle we have right now is the city giving us the green light," Kurtz said. "We are ready to push the button.”

While Kurtz’s idea appears to be theoretically popular, the same cannot be said for its impression on local politicians.

“Personally I’m for taking the year off. There is not enough time to put on a first-class event and, secondly, the city needs time to heal and take a deep breath,” Ward 1 City Council Member Doug Menikheim said.  

Menikheim is, of course, referring to the city’s Feb. 21 vote to dissolve the five-year contract between Stillwater and the Lumberjack Days Association  and outstanding payments in excess of $20,000.  

“We don’t need another large event downtown more than we need time to recover from what has happened over the past few years,” Menikheim said. 

Stillwater’s mayor agrees with Menikheim.

“I don’t see the need to rush into anything,” Stillwater Mayor Ken Harycki said. “I think now is a natural time to pause or reassess what we as a community want to do... It’s a long process and a lot of conversations need to happen. There is more to a festival than hiring a band and putting up a few beer tents.”

Harycki also said he is willing to consider proposals from anyone but that he is not interested in a festival that pits the traffic and safety concerns of small business owners against the financial benefit to Stillwater's hospitality industry.

But according to Kurtz, much of the business community is already on board and he is well on his way to gaining the support of businesses along Highway 36, as well as those situated on Main Street. 

“There are petitions being done right now in downtown Stillwater," Kurtz said. "Those are being done at the request of business owners." 

Harycki says his top priority, festival or not, is to maintain public safety.

"We've been lucky in that we haven't had problems with gangs (during Lumberjack Days) but it's always a concern," he said. "We'll need to speak to members of the community in each ward to decide what the community wants. Do we want something that caters to 5,000 or 50,000?"

Kurtz—owner of KIPPS Investigations & Security—agreed that public safety needs to be at the forefront of the Stillwater River Days conversation, but he is confident in his team.

"I was a police officer for 30 years and now I own a security company," he said. "There will definitely be a police presence (at Stillwater River Days) and if anyone tries to start anything, we'll take 'em down."