The Carlson Event Center and Country Chapel in Winnebago “has advertised that it will hold a ‘New Year’s Eve Bash’ on December 31, 2020, into the early morning hours of January 1, 2021, in violation of Governor Tim Walz’s executive orders,” according to a Wednesday press release from Ellison’s office.
The advertisement for the event “indicates that it will be hosting a ‘big New Year’s dance,’ urging attendees to bring their own beer and liquor,” the release added.
But the event center’s owner, Garth Carlson, said Ellison misunderstood the facility’s intentions. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Carlson told Minnesota’s Star Tribune. “It’s not a party. It’s not a bash.”
Carlson told the paper the event was going to be a religious gathering with items for sale. Carlson didn’t deny that there was an advertisement for the event but said its description was “misworded” in the advertisement.
Walz issued an executive order in November that prohibited all in-person dining and closed venues that host indoor events and entertainment. The order spared planned religious services, funerals and weddings.
“By far the vast majority of indoor venues have been complying with the law all along. But when a business irresponsibly opens to the public to throw a dance party, their insistence on violating the law is simply prolonging the pain of the pandemic for everyone,” Ellison said in a statement published on Wednesday.
“I don’t enjoy using the enforcement tools I have available because I’d much prefer all establishments to do the right thing on their own, but I will continue to use them when I have no other choice to protect Minnesotans from this deadly virus,” the attorney general added.
The Carlson Event Center is the eleventh Minnesota business Ellison has filed a suit against for defying the governor’s order.
The suit comes as Minnesota reported over 1,990 new coronavirus cases and 66 deaths on December 30, according to The New York Times. Over the past week, the state saw an average of 1,513 cases per day, a 53 percent decrease compared with the previous two weeks.
Newsweek reached out to Ellison and Megan Zimmerman, the Carlson Event Center’s event manager, for comment but didn’t hear back in time for publication.
