Racine Civic Centre under new, local management beginning in 2024 | Racine County Eye (2024)

RACINE — A local company – 5k Events LLC – is expected to assume management of the Racine Civic Centre starting in 2024.

The Racine Common Council’s Finance and Personnel Committee on Monday (Nov. 27) unanimously approved a bid from 5k Events and directed the city’s purchasing agent to negotiate a two-year management services contract effective Jan. 1, 2024, that includes a $150,000 annual management fee. The full council is expected to vote on the agreement at its Dec. 5 meeting.

The new arrangement would end 15 years of Racine Civic Centre management by VenuWorks of Ames Iowa. That company manages arenas, theaters, convention/conference centers and outdoor venues in 11 states.

VenuWorks and 5k Events were the only bidders.

Civic Centre’s 3 venues

The Racine Civic Centre consists of Festival Hall, Memorial Hall and Paul P. Harris Rotary Park.

Festival Hall, 5 Fifth St., a 15,700-square-foot multipurpose building, and the accompanying outdoor park grounds, opened in 1987. The 30,000-square-foot outdoor space, originally known as Festival Park, was renamed in 2017 after three local Rotary Club charitable foundations donated funds for a 7,500-seat outdoor amphitheater. Paul P. Harris, the founder of Rotary International, was born in Racine in 1868.

Memorial Hall, 72 Seventh St., opened in 1925 as a gift to the community from William Horlick, founder of Horlick’s Malted Milk. It includes a theater stage, balcony seating and a 17,000-square-foot event floor. The hall’s seating capacity is about 1,200.

Flynn: ‘Excited’

“We’re excited for this opportunity,” said Patrick Flynn, 5K Events LLC owner. “This is right in our wheelhouse.”

Flynn has been in the events management business since 2010 when he operated Plan Ahead Events, a national franchise that coordinates corporate events, trade shows, expositions, conferences and similar events.

In 2013, he cut ties with that business and launched 5K Events, which licenses and holds a variety of themed 5k run-type events throughout the country. Earlier this year, 5K Events assumed management of the Racine Family YMCA’s long-standing Lighthouse Run. Other annual Racine area events produced by 5K Events include the Root River Paddle, Saint Patrick’s Day 5k, North Beach 5k and Stuff the Sleigh 5k.

Flynn told the Racine County Eye that he’s long shared the frustration of many residents that the Civic Centre’s venues are badly underutilized.

“We’ve wanted to get involved with those facilities for a long time now,” he said. “We’ve already talked to Salmon-A-Rama and we’ll be talking to other groups about getting them back at Festival Hall.”

Several high-profile public events, such as the Rotary Post Prom, Pancake Day and Italian Fest, have left Festival Hall for venues outside the city in recent years.

Flynn said that once the services management contract is in hand, his team will start a full-court press to sell the Racine Civic Centre venues throughout the region. He expects to add staff as needed, but in the near term, Stacy Little-Van Oost, 5K’s event director, will market Festival Hall and Paul P. Harris Rotary Park for special events and weddings.

Flynn conceded that he doesn’t have a lot of experience in managing physical buildings, but believes he can find good people for those roles.

He added that he’s very encouraged by the response he received from the Finance and Personnel Committee earlier this week.

“I think everyone realizes that you can’t keep doing the same thing and expect to succeed,” he said.