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Eagan Funfest board keeps carnival, adds security and narrows marketing after safety and capacity review
Summary
After reviewing safety, capacity and financial concerns, the volunteer Funfest board told the Eagan City Council it will keep the carnival, add five unarmed security officers per night, narrow 2025 marketing to focus on Eagan residents, add a July 2 carnival preview for families and stagger closing times to reduce mass departures.
The Eagan Funfest board told the City Council on Feb. 11 that it will retain the carnival at the annual July event, add security and focus marketing on city residents after a yearlong review of safety and capacity concerns.
Funfest volunteers — led by board president Andy (surname not provided), carnival co-chair Mike Frederick and marketing lead Brent Corey — briefed the council on program, financial and safety options. The board decided to keep the carnival (which contributes an estimated $10,000 in net revenue in a typical year), hire five additional unarmed security staff per night, limit wider regional advertising and test a new "carnival preview" family hour on July 2 to provide a lower density experience.
"We were going to keep the carnival and invest in additional security," Andy said, summarizing the board's decision and its rationale. The board told the council it will work with city public-safety staff to stagger the event close-out in an effort to avoid a mass exodus into the community center parking lot. Under the plan, last-call-type activities would end earlier (various vendors staged to close in sequence) so attendance leaves the site in waves rather than all at once.
Funfest representatives said the event is a volunteer-run 501(c)(3) nonprofit and that the city provides an in-kind sponsorship of roughly $55,000 annually for fireworks, public safety and support services. The board also highlighted the ambassador program: each year up to six student ambassadors serve as volunteers and receive scholarships (about $2,000 for high-school-age ambassadors and $1,000 for younger ambassadors); ambassadors also fundraise for their scholarships.
The board intends to tailor 2025 marketing to Eagan residents — narrowing previously broader metro-area buys — and to improve joint communications with city staff so public messaging aligns with both city and Funfest announcements. Funfest leaders also said they will provide multilingual outreach (Spanish and Somali) for event communications and work with city communications staff on weather and safety messaging.
Financially, Funfest reported it distributes approximately $21,000 annually to community organizations (Lions, Legion, Police Explorer program, Scouts of America) and earns major revenue from carnival operations and corporate sponsorships. The board said it will test the changes in 2025, monitor public-safety outcomes and return with any proposed modifications next year.
Why it matters: Funfest is a long-running, volunteer-run community event that attracts thousands to the community center grounds. Changes to security, marketing and the event schedule could affect traffic, public-safety staffing and the way residents experience the holiday weekend.
No formal city policy changes were adopted at the workshop; the council approved a separate procedural item at the meeting to revise the city’s regular and special council meeting dates for January 2025–2026.
