Visit Fergus Falls considers return to City Hall during leadership transition

Visit Fergus Falls is weighing a return to City Hall as interim leader Ryan Tungseth and Growth Forge Studio steer the tourism group through a search for a permanent executive director. The move would change more than office space: it could reshape how Fergus Falls coordinates promotions, events and downtown traffic for merchants and planners who use the city’s tourism arm as a first stop.

At the Fergus Falls City Council meeting on June 15, 2026, the discussion came as the city and Visit Fergus Falls continued adjusting to a new operating relationship. In October 2025, the council adopted Resolution #195-2025, ending the city’s Local Convention and Tourism Agreement with Visit Fergus Falls effective Dec. 31, 2025. That reset makes the current location talk part of a broader reorganization, not a standalone facilities move.

The organization’s website still presents Visit Fergus Falls as a visitor resource, with an events calendar, contact information and convention-services help for meetings and groups. It promotes Fergus Falls as a destination for outdoor recreation, arts and historic sites, and says the city sits about 2.5 hours from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and about one hour from Hector International Airport in Fargo. For event organizers, that front-door role matters: a visible home inside City Hall could make it easier to connect calendars, marketing and meeting logistics with city departments.

Fergus Falls is a Home Rule Charter city with a mayor and eight council members, and council meetings are held on the first and third Mondays at 5:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers at 112 W. Washington Avenue. The city says those meetings are televised on PEG Access and YouTube, underscoring how closely watched the tourism discussion has become inside City Hall.

Visit Fergus Falls’ board meets monthly, giving the organization a standing governance structure even as interim leadership continues. With Tungseth, Growth Forge Studio and city officials now weighing where the group should operate, the practical question is whether a return to City Hall would strengthen coordination with downtown merchants, event planners and visitors, or whether the city’s tourism work is better served elsewhere. How leaders answer that will help determine how visible Visit Fergus Falls remains in the city’s economic development effort.