Walker's Biggest Summer Stage Is Rebuilding Itself Around Winter

"We want to honor the foundation built here while introducing exciting new elements that ensure this venue and property remain a vibrant gathering place for future generations." Anthony Zaudtke said that to KNSI in April, a few months after his company closed on the Moondance Jam grounds outside Walker.

KNSI also reported that the company plans "a wide variety of events year round." For decades the property at 7050 39th Ave NW was known for one stretch of summer. Under its new name, 47° North, it is being rebuilt to stay busy from October through Valentine's Day. That gives Walker a cold-season calendar that runs from the edge of town into downtown, where a new bistro is adjusting its hours for the same months.

What changed hands in January

According to KNSI, the purchase of Moondance Jam Special Events and Festival Park closed on January 16, 2026. The station also reported that former owners Kathy and Bill Bieloh had built the venue into a music and events destination over decades of ownership. No sale price was reported.

The festival's last stretch was already uneven. In July 2024, Lakeland PBS reported that every national headliner for that year's Jam, the 33rd, had been canceled. Ticket holders could attend the scaled-down event, exchange their tickets for later events, or roll them into the next year.

Tony and Lisa Zaudtke are the new owners. They brought in Bob Bliss and John Gourley, two longtime WE Fest producers, to help set the site's direction. KNSI said the ownership group's background also includes North Dakota Country Fest and XRoads 41. The people now running the old Jam grounds have spent careers producing big summer festivals, and their first plan for this property leans heavily on the months when festivals don't happen.

The first season was a warm-up

Summer 2026 worked as a test run. After what the Pilot-Independent described as a five-month restoration, the venue reopened with a free Cole Diamond concert on June 19. A Dueling Pianos show on August 1 sold out, and MallRats was booked for August 29 on the 100-acre site.

Those were single summer nights, much like the old Jam weekends on a smaller scale. The plans that followed are built for a different calendar.

The Lounge opens Thursday, and the winter plan follows

The building Walker knew as the Lazy Moon reopens as The Lounge on Thursday, October 15. The 47° North event page lists doors at 4 p.m. and an opening-night dinner from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Reserved seats are $25 and include dinner and one drink. The page also gives 218-836-4747 as the number for large groups.

The Pilot-Independent describes The Lounge as a forthcoming fine-dining restaurant and bar that will also host events. The old Moondance Jam Saloon nearby has been remodeled and renamed The Pavilion. Neither the Pilot story nor the opening-night page gives regular hours or a full menu, so check with 47° North before planning a weeknight dinner there.

The rest of the property already has published winter plans:

• Camping all year. In its autumn preview, the Pilot-Independent reported that the site is now licensed for recreational camping year-round. Primitive sites with electricity only stay open through the winter. Bliss told the paper it is "now an actual campground – the most affordable in the region."
• Storage. KNSI reported plans for secure winter storage for RVs, trailers and boats, along with a luxury glamping option.
• Holidays and beyond. Holiday-party bookings are open. A New Year's Eve gala, a Super Bowl event and a Valentine's dinner are in the works, with Jackie Brakke as caterer.
• Ballfields. The ballfields are being redeveloped, and the Pilot reports an "aspiration to host baseball camps, with retired Major League players serving as tutors."

A festival may still come back. Bliss told the Pilot that a music festival may return at some point. "The spirit is evolving..." he said.

Downtown is adding a room for the same months

On Minnesota Avenue, next to Village Square, Jackie Collins has opened Loon Call, a lounge and bistro she runs with her husband, Josh. "This has been my dream," she told the Pilot-Independent. The paper notes that she started out as a waitress at the Outdoorsman Cafe about two decades ago.

The menu is made for sharing. It includes the Agency Bay Cheese Skillet, which is flank steak with peppers, onions, Manchego and baguette slices. There is also a Campfire Parmesan Dip with kettle chips, and Medjool dates stuffed with goat cheese and wrapped in applewood-smoked bacon. Collins told the paper she wanted "an up north menu with things people haven't tried."

The schedule is already changing with the season. The Pilot listed September hours of Tuesday through Friday, 3 to 8 p.m., and Saturday, 2 to 9 p.m. For October, Loon Call planned to open four days a week and add ticketed five-course dinners for groups of two to eight. The article doesn't carry a publish date, so it's worth checking with Loon Call for this week's hours.

Taken together, Walker is heading into this off-season with a fine-dining room at the old festival grounds and a ticketed-dinner bistro downtown. Neither existed at this point last year.

The calendar from here to the Festival of Lights

These dates come from the venues and the Leech Lake Area Chamber of Commerce. They reach from Longville to Thanksgiving weekend in Walker.

One date needs a check. The Pilot's autumn preview put Doe's Day Out on November 9 and called it the hunting opener. But November 9 is a Monday this year, and the venue's own site, updated October 7, lists November 14. Calling 47° North before you plan around it is a good idea.

The deer opener now has events at both ends of town. The Chamber's Does Hunt on Saturday, November 7, sends people through Walker's shops and restaurants with bingo cards from participating businesses. Some stops have hidden does to find and stamps to collect. Completed cards go to Portage Brewing Company for a giveaway valued at $500, and the Chamber says the drawing is for that Saturday only. A week later, 47° North hosts its own Doe's Day Out.

Thanksgiving weekend is the Festival of Lights. Friday brings the tree lighting and music. Saturday has crafts, a children's party, live reindeer, horse-and-wagon rides and the Reindeer Ramble from 9 to 11 a.m. After that, the 47° North list continues with holiday parties, the New Year's Eve gala, the Super Bowl event and the Valentine's dinner.

Getting around while the west side finishes

The city's 2026 West Side Project is wrapping up as the calendar fills. The city's September 18 update said the first layer of pavement was finished on Garden Street, Michigan Avenue and the Lake May-area work. Final pavement and driveway asphalt were expected "in the next few weeks," with hydroseeding in the fall, and 7th Street and Elm Avenue were in cleanup. Progress meetings run every Thursday through November at the Walker Public Library, 203 Tower Avenue.

The paved trails need no construction updates. A September Streets.mn ride report describes the Heartland, Paul Bunyan and Shingobee routes around Walker as connected, marked and maintained, including a 23-mile triangular loop. That covers the stretch of weekday afternoons between the Lounge opening and the first snow.

Down the road, the Hackensack Community Garden finished the season with a new solar-powered water pump. It replaced hauling a generator out to fill water totes, and the Hackensack Lakes Area Community Foundation contributed a $500 grant. In Walker, the Pilot-Independent reported that the Walker Community Garden grew 68 pumpkins for WHA second graders, who came on September 22 to pick their own.

The next date on the list is Thursday at 4 p.m., when the doors open at the old Lazy Moon for the first time under its new name.

Campgrounds, event venues and restaurants are a big part of what we do at Mike Kennedy Group, and we're watching how 47° North's year-round plan works out. If you own a hospitality property around Leech Lake and want to talk through what a longer season could mean for it, give our team a call.