More than 10 years ago, Dimitrios Smyrnios, the CEO of The Schwan Food Co. unveiled the name of a sports and expo center along Highway 23 in Marshall.

The 78,200 square-foot Red Baron Arena and Expo was still under construction when Smyrnios joined city officials gathered at the construction site for the naming ceremony.

“This expo and arena is something we’re very, very proud of,” Smyrnios said.

Schwan’s donated nearly 30 acres of land to the city of Marshall to build the facility. Funding for construction of the arena and expo included $4.5 million from the state of Minnesota. The rest of the funding comes from a local option sales tax and a lodging food and beverage tax passed by Marshall voters.

More than two years later, Colin Peterson, the U.S. representative at the time, toured the newly opened Red Baron Arena.

“I had been reading about it for nine years,” Peterson told the Independent reporter. He was curious to see the end result.

During the tour, Peterson checked out the arena that features a video screen, two sheets of ice, the meeting rooms and a club room for renting.

“You did a nice job,” he told city officials.

Jump forward to Dec. 5-6, 2025, hundreds of fans from across the state and the Marshall community packed the arena for a pair of Fairbanks Ice Dogs hockey games. That’s right, a junior ice hockey team from Alaska competing in the North American Hockey League was skating on the ice inside the arena and slapping pucks into the net.

During COVID, the Ice Dogs where looking for a place to play because of Alaska travel restrictions. The team has visited Marshall to play in the arena ever since. The Ice Dogs, as it turns out, ended up just being one of numerous benefits of the arena being built in Marshall.

On Dec. 9, Adri DeBoer, Red Baron senior sales manager, delivered a report to the Marshall City Council. She listed a number of benefits in 2025 alone:

• More than $150,000 in revenue

• Increase expo floor rentals — the main expo floor was rented out for a total of 17 events

• Increase in club room rentals

• From September through December, the arena hosted two MAHA tournaments and 28 MAHA hockey games, Fairbanks Ice Dogs games, and 11 private ice rentals.

• The Arena and Expo had $43,500 in advertising sales

At a previous council meeting, Visit Marshall Director Cassi Weiss also delivered a report. Her report focused on all festivals and other events at the arena and other city facilities and parks. However, she mentioned the Made In Minnesota beer and wine festival held in the arena. She said Visit Marshall estimated about $30,000 in economic activity to the city from that event.

The bottom line — the Red Baron Arena and Expo has made a significant positive impact on the city of Marshall. Is it enough to change the minds of the anti-raising taxes crowd who opposed the construction of the facility? Probably not. But the arena is definitely a revenue generator for the city and the community when it comes to hotels, gas stations, retail stores, etc.

And without the arena, there would never had been a partnership between the Ice Dogs and the city of Marshall. That partnership has provided quality entertainment for the community and a point of pride for the hockey community.

This is what you call a win-win for city of Marshall, residents and businesses.