DULUTH — A proposed agreement heading to the City Council on Monday could help Visit Duluth regain its footing as the community’s marketer-in-chief.
For decades, Visit Duluth oversaw the city’s efforts to market itself as a tourist destination. But the homegrown organization has played second fiddle to out-of-town outfits brought in to lead the promotional campaign in recent years.
Most recently,
the city awarded a $3.2 million contract to Madden Media
, choosing the Tucson, Arizona-based firm to lead its tourism advertising charge for the next two years.
But city councilors are expected to vote on an agreement with Visit Duluth that could put the local organization back in the driver’s seat over the next five years.
Although Visit Duluth is slated to receive just $650,000 in funding from the city next year, the pending agreement lays out plans to have the group oversee Madden Media as it transitions back into Duluth’s primary destination-marketing organization.
Madden’s contract with Duluth expires in 2027, and at that time, Visit Duluth could choose to bring more of the work back in-house or could decide to continue to farm out work to a third-party partner, such as Madden, as it sees fit.
Lynne Williams, who chairs Visit Duluth’s board of directors, said the five-year term of the proposed agreement headed to the council helps clarify and solidify the city’s commitment to returning the organization to a leadership role.
That’s especially useful for Visit Duluth as the organization continues its search for an executive director to lead the transformation. Williams noted that staff from SearchWide Global, the recruiting firm Visit Duluth has retained to assist with its recruiting efforts, have seen interest in the position surge as city officials formally lay out their plans to reconstitute the organization in black and white, placing greater control of Duluth’s future marketing efforts in its hands.
Karen Pionk, general manager of the Duluth Sheraton and another member of Visit Duluth’s board, also predicts the agreement, if approved Monday, will prove helpful for the organization in its search for new leadership.
If all goes according to plan, Visit Duluth will begin to review and narrow the field of candidates, winnowing it down to a handful of finalists, with an offer likely to be extended by mid-May. Pionk and Williams said they did not have a count as to how many applications they had already received for the leadership position, but both reported feeling encouraged by what they have heard from SearchWide staff to date.
It remains unclear whether Visit Duluth will request additional funding from the city to assist with bringing new leadership aboard. When 3rd District City Councilor Roz Randorf asked what sort of funding gap the organization anticipated, Williams offered no estimate. She noted that Visit Duluth has sought to trim costs unrelated to its operation of a visitor center and aims to keep any potential future request for additional aid to a minimum.
At present, Visit Duluth’s contract with the city is slated to grow by only 2% in 2026, adding just $13,000 to the $650,000 it is expected to receive in 2025.
As Visit Duluth steps into an expanded role in 2027, however, that funding picture could change substantially.
About the Duluth City Council
The Duluth City Council’s regular meetings are on the second and fourth Mondays of each month at 6 p.m., with agenda meetings at 5:15 p.m. each Thursday preceding a regular meeting, unless otherwise scheduled, at City Hall, Room 330. Meetings are also livestreamed and recorded for later viewing at duluthmn.gov/city-council/city-council-meetings-events/council-meeting-media.
District 1: Wendy Durrwachter
Represents: Duluth city precincts 1-7
Term expires: Jan. 3, 2028
Contact: 218-730-5700, Ext. 3, wdurrwachter@DuluthMN.gov
Represents: Duluth city precincts 8-13
Term expires: Jan. 5, 2026
Contact: 218-428-9195/218-730-5355, mmayou@duluthmn.gov
Clint Austin / 2024 file / Duluth Media Group
Represents: Duluth city precincts 14-19
Term expires: Jan. 3, 2028
Contact: 218-443-8364/218-730-5353, rrandorf@duluthmn.gov
Represents: Duluth city precincts 21-27
Term expires: Jan. 5, 2026
Contact: 218-730-5356, tswenson@duluthmn.gov
Clint Austin / 2024 file / Duluth Media Group
District 5: Janet Kennedy
Represents: Duluth city precincts 28-35
Term expires: Jan. 3, 2028
Contact: 218-341-6113/218-730-5357, jkennedy@duluthmn.gov
Represents: All Duluth city precincts
Term expires: Jan. 5, 2026
Contact: 218-730-5359, aawal@duluthmn.gov
Represents: All Duluth city precincts
Term expires: Jan. 3, 2028
Contact: 218-730-5352, aforsman@duluthmn.gov
At large: Lynn Marie Nephew, vice president
Represents: All Duluth city precincts
Term expires: Jan. 3, 2028
Contact: 218-730-5354, lnephew@duluthmn.gov
At large: Terese Tomanek, president
Represents: All Duluth city precincts
Term expires: Jan. 5, 2026
Contact: 218-216-9126, ttomanek@duluthmn.gov
Peter Passi covers city and county government for the Duluth News Tribune. He joined the paper in April 2000, initially as a business reporter but has worked a number of beats through the years.