Racine venues under new leadership: 5K events shares vision for Festival Hall and Memorial Hall

Racine, Wis. (WRJN) – The new management team of Racine’s Festival Hall and Memorial Hall, 5K Events, discussed upcoming events and plans for the venues during an appearance on The Don Rosen Show this morning. Patrick Flynn, Kevin MacDougall, and Stacy Van Oost, expressed excitement about revitalizing these historic Racine venues and bringing back beloved community events.

5K Events took over management of the Racine Civic Center, which includes Festival Hall and Memorial Hall, on March 6th. According to general manager Patrick Flynn, this was a quick transition, but the team is working quickly to refurbish and revitalize the venues.

Memorial Hall is undergoing significant refurbishment and cleaning, led by executive director Stacy Van Oost, to get it ready for its 100th anniversary celebration in 2 years. The team is planning a weekend of events around Memorial Day to kick off the anniversary.

The group reported that Festival Hall is in good shape, having been recently repainted and recarpeted. The next project is to renovate the concession area in the adjacent Rotary Park.

Some major returning events include the 50th anniversary of the Salmon-a-Rama fishing tournament, which is coming back to Festival Park, with live music, the kids pond, and more. Another big event coming back is Harbor Fest, which last took place in 2007. It is being revived and will return on July 4-5, 2025.

The leadership at 5K Events said this morning that they are exploring the possibility of starting a new weekly city market event at Festival Park, similar to the one in Kenosha, to bring more activity and foot traffic to the area.