Jamestown breaks ground on Bison Bend Mini Golf at Frontier Village
Jamestown’s new 18-hole Bison Bend Mini Golf course carries an $850,000 price tag and a June 1, 2027 opening target.
Jamestown Frontier Attractions broke ground July 14 on Bison Bend Mini Golf at Frontier Village, setting up an 18-hole course east of the Frontier Village Amphitheatre that organizers say will do more than add another family stop. The project is meant to tell stories of Jamestown and North Dakota through each hole, with a design pitched as both fun and educational.
The Jamestown Area Chamber of Commerce helped mark the groundbreaking at the amphitheatre, while Kepida Contracting was awarded the work as general contractor. Jamestown City Council already approved construction on Frontier Village property, clearing the way for a project that now carries an estimated total cost of about $850,000. Jamestown Frontier Attractions also secured a $212,500 Destination Development Grant from the North Dakota Department of Commerce, giving the course a state-backed funding boost as it moves toward construction.
The opening target is June 1, 2027, and the timeline matters because the course is being sold as part of a larger visitor strategy, not just a new amenity. Local leaders have framed it as a way to keep families in Jamestown longer, draw more foot traffic to Frontier Village, and support nearby businesses that benefit when visitors spend more time in town. That fits the broader tourism base already built around the World’s Largest Buffalo, the North American Bison Discovery Center and Frontier Village itself.
The state’s grant program is designed around that same goal. The North Dakota Department of Commerce says the Destination Development Grant program supports tourism experiences that create unique visitor experiences and encourage extended stays and overnight visits from travelers coming more than 50 miles. In the 2025 cycle, Commerce received 106 applications from 50 communities and awarded $15 million to 22 projects statewide. In 2026, 103 applications from 61 communities produced $4 million in awards.
Frontier Village already has scale to test the case for another attraction. News Dakota reported the site drew an estimated 139,000 visitors from all 50 states and more than 60 countries during the 2025 summer season. The question for Bison Bend Mini Golf is whether it can add measurable spending and repeat traffic on top of that base, not just another stop on the way out of town.
Allison Limke of Jamestown Frontier Attractions and Frontier Village was recognized in April with a North Dakota Governor’s Travel and Tourism Award for behind-the-scenes tourism work. With the new course, that work now has a concrete test: whether an $850,000 attraction can help turn Frontier Village into a longer stop, a return trip and a stronger draw for Stutsman County.
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