Ames Center outperforms budget in 2025

Courtesy of John Gessner  & Sun This Week/ Dakota County Tribune

May 7th 2026

He wasn’t in the house, but a Wisconsin comic nearly stole the show Tuesday when Burnsville City Council members reviewed the 2025 financial performance of the city-owned Ames Center.

Mayor Elizabeth Kautz said residents have asked about the return of a performer who’s “funny and clean” and draws sellout crowds.

“Charlie Berens,” replied Ames Center Executive Director Brian Luther. Berens was last seen at the Ames Center on a three-night stand in November 2023.

“Charlie, come back to Burnsville to the Ames Center,” the mayor said.

The center’s 1,014-seat Masquerade Dance Theater “was a little bit of an underplay” for the then-rising star, Luther said — but the enterprise has thrived without him.

Demand for the facility remained strong last year despite a 15% to 25% loss of sales in the live entertainment industry, according to VenuWorks, the center’s longtime management firm.

The center outperformed its budget by $70,560, according to the 2025 annual report. Revenue totaled $2.35 million, $129,588 less than budgeted. Expenses totaled $2.37 million, $200,148 less than budgeted.

Luther said spending reductions helped the center end the year with a $23,284 loss, well under the $93,844 loss that was budgeted.

Total attendance for the year was 130,366 over 147 events held on 242 days, the report said. Seventy were ticketed events, 42 were banquets and meetings and 35 were non-ticketed events. The center includes a 150-seat black box theater.

“Very strong attendance” continued at dance competitions, Luther said. The Ames Center is the metro area leader in dance competition venues, the report said, and the Masquerade Dance Competition holds naming rights to the main theater.

Dance competition attendance totaled 81,042 over 13 competitions on 56 days.

A competition season that used to last three months at Ames now runs from February to June, Kautz said.

“Not only do those families come to Burnsville to see their daughters, grandchildren, perform, but they’re also eating in our restaurants, going to our retail stores and just creating a lot of activity and vibrancy,” she said.

Ticketed events generated 56.7% of revenue in 2025, followed by dance competitions at 35.6%, the report said.

The biggest ticket-selling acts last year were Dude Dad on Thin Ice, the Tonic Sol-Fa End of an Era Tour, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Postmodern Jukebox, the Folsom Prison Experience, “Menopause the Musical 2” and Shaun Cassidy.

Council Member Dan Gustafson asked about the “angel fund” established in 2010 that allows management to buy shows in addition to the facility rentals that comprise most events. The city seeded the fund with a $50,000 Economic Development Authority loan that was repaid, he said.

The fund has grown to nearly $400,000, said Jenny Rhode, chief financial officer and deputy city manager.

“Very good job, you guys,” Kautz said.

Looking to 2026, the center is outperforming its budget expectations and “doing much better than we were in quarter one of 2025,” Luther said.

But no word on Charlie Berens.

“We miss Charlie a lot,” but “he’s huge now,” Luther said.

Berens played Ames two years in a row, three nights each, two shows a night, and sold out all 12, Luther said.

“I don’t know how we’re ever going to top that,” he said.

John Gessner can be reached at john.gessner@apgecm-inc.com or 952-846-2031.