Schell’s General Manager Curt Van Asten holds a pumpkin from the Starkeller pumpkin patch. If approved by City Council, the plan is to host a harvest festival with the pumpkin patch in late September.

NEW ULM – Schell’s Brewery is looking to bring more events to New Ulm, via its Starkeller location.

The venue, located at 2215 North Garden Street, currently only hosts private events inside the taproom.

Schell’s General Manager Curt Van Aster said they’ve gotten several requests to host larger-scale events that Schell’s can’t easily hold.

“We get a lot of requests from local nonprofits and groups looking for spaces to do outdoor events like vendor fairs, bags tournaments, pickleball tournaments,” he said. “We have limited parking down at Schell’s. [We’re looking] to have a nice flat space like this to program some of those events and continue being community partners with events we don’t have the space for at Schell’s.”

The Starkeller sits on land within a General Industrial zoning district. To hold outdoor recreation and entertainment events, it needs a conditional use permit from the city.

At the Planning Commission meeting Thursday, Commissioner Anne Earl asked about the lighting quality along Highland. She said people will likely park there, and the area needs to be properly illuminated. City Planner John Knisley said there are street lights and a sidewalk, which should provide enough illumination and safety.

Because weekend quiet hours are from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m., Commissioner Bobbi Fuhr asked if that prohibited the Starkeller from having proposed events run later.

“They can if they get a variance to the city council, which isn’t unusual,” Knisley said. “Those come into the city council fairly regularly when they have events in the downtown area.”

Commissioner Larry Mack asked when events would start and what activities they would start with. Van Aster said if everything is approved, the first event would be in late September.

“[We’d have] a harvest festival out there for kids and families with pumpkins, paintings, and things like that,” he said. “There’s a bunch of pumpkins that were planted out there, we’ll utilize those.”

Van Aster said the Starkeller taproom will stay as-is, closed to the public but available for private events.

By opening up the Starkeller grounds, Van Aster said he hopes to continue fostering community connections through more events and populate an underutilized space.

“[We’re] expanding town so it’s not just Schell’s or downtown,” he said. “We can spread the love and spread New Ulm to continue to grow. This side of town is a little quieter and easier to get to with lots of parking. Hopefully [we’ll] be able to spearhead that and continue to push the envelope on things that normally we’d have to say no to.”

Commissioner Cate Macho motioned to approve the conditional use permit, with Commissioner Joe Schotzko seconding. The Commission unanimously approved the conditional use permit. With the Planning Commission’s approval, it will go to City Council for final approval next Tuesday.