2024 / 2025 Winter What To Do

Winter in Minnesota can seem interminably long, especially if you stay cooped up in your house from early November to mid-April. While hibernation might work out well for actual bears, it’s often not the best course of action for humans. Social interaction, along with just being in the good ol’ outdoors, with family and friends is healthy — both mentally and physically — not to mention fun.

The Twin Cities metro, as well as greater Minnesota, is replete with fun, interesting and exciting activities throughout the winter months that will appeal to kids and adults alike. From cross-country skiing to pond hockey to indoor farmers markets, there are a plethora of activities that will get you off the couch and out enjoying yourselves with other hardy Minnesotans.

Lavender takes a look at a few of the many offerings on hand that’ll help keep the winter doldrums at bay until spring arrives in all of its rich green glory once more.

DECEMBER

The Ice Palace
Dates and Times coming soon to website • 657 River St. N., Delano, Minn.

The Ice Palace is your go-to destination for magical winter fun with an array of ice tunnels, sled hills, fire performances, unique gifts and plenty of food from vendors. Don’t miss out on this one-of-a-kind Minnesota experience!
www.theicepalaces.com/minnesota

Four Seasons Nordic Village Market
Through December 22 • Four Seasons Hotel, 245 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis

Carefully curated collections in various cozy cabins abound in this fourth-floor rooftop terrace market with stunning views of the city.
www.fourseasons.com/minneapolis

Magic of Lights
Through January 5 • 5:30-10 p.m. • One carload/one price • 2645 Vikings Circle, Vikings Lakes, Eagan, Minn.

Enjoy this dazzling, drive-through holiday lights experience with the whole family as favorite holiday scenes and characters come to life with the latest LED technology and digital animations.
www.explorevikinglakes.com

37th Annual Reindeer Run — Minneapolis
December 14 • 5k, 10K, 15K, Kids • 10K starts 7:30 a.m., 5K starts 9:30 a.m. • Lake Harriet, Minneapolis
www.reindeerrun.com

GLOW Holiday Festival
Through January 5, 2025 • Open 5-9 p.m. • CHS Field, 360 Broadway St., St. Paul

GLOW is celebrating its fifth year, and it’s brighter than ever! Newly expanded exhibits abound, along with over a million glowing lights, Vixen’s Zip Line and Giant Slide, Enchanted Forest, the GLOW Spectacular, the sElfie Plaza and so much more. Tickets are on sale now!
www.glowholiday.com/st-paul

Ice Castles Minnesota
Dates and hours dependent upon weather • Friday, Saturday, Sunday • 170 Randall Ave., St. Paul

Don’t miss this awe-inspiring, winter must-see that brings fairytales to life! Ice Castles has something for everyone — ice slides, caverns and archways, a polar pub, crawl tunnels, ice sculptures, a lantern passage and a tubing hill. Fun for all ages! And, this year, it’s moved to the Minnesota State Fairgrounds!
www.icecastles.com/minnesota

Winter Lights at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum
Selected dates November 21, 2024, to January 5, 2025 • Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Chaska, Minn.

The Winter Lights display is always a stroll to remember! Tickets are required and go quickly, so check our website to get yours now. Enjoying the fresh, crisp air of a Minnesota winter evening surrounded by thousands of lights is an experience not to be missed. The Arboretum café will be open, and shopping at the gift store and music will be available on certain nights. Don’t miss the 25-foot Poinsettia Tree created with over 500 red, white and pink poinsettias. Special Theme Nights are also on the calendar!
www.arb.umn.edu/winterlights

Bentleyville Tour of Lights
Through December 28 • Sunday-Thursday, 5-9 p.m., Friday-Saturday 5-10 p.m. • Bayfront Festival Park, Duluth

Celebrating 21 years this year, the largest free walk-through lighting display in America has something for everyone! Free treats, four-million-plus lights and a 128-foot Christmas tree will delight folks of all ages. Free admission, parking is $10 per vehicle.
www.visitduluth.com • www.bentleyvilleusa.org 

Mill City Winter — Farmers Markets
Select Saturdays/Weekends • November-April • Mill City Museum, Minneapolis

Just because the weather’s turned chilly, it doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy the bounty of local farmers! They’ll be heading indoors to sell their wares on first and third Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. inside the Mill City Museum. No dogs, please.
www.millcityfarmersmarket.org

Minneapolis Farmers Market
Select Weekends/Saturdays • 9 a.m. to noon • 312 E. Lyndale Ave. N., Minneapolis

Providing fresh produce & products since 1876, the Minneapolis Farmers Market is on a mission to bring goodness to our community all year long. Please, no dogs allowed.
www.mplsfarmersmarket.com

Circus Juventas’ Annual Holiday Show — “Blizzard!”
December 6-15 • Under the Big Top in St. Paul

Circus Juventas celebrates the wonders of the season with their annual holiday performance that will bring the magic of the circus to your family’s yuletide celebration. Circus Juventas is, and always has been, proud to be a safe and supportive space for LGBTQ+ youth.
https://circusjuventas.org/holiday-show-2024/

Third Annual Queer Holiday Market
December 18-19 • 5-9 p.m. both days • Hosted by Summit Brewing Company to benefit The Aliveness Project • Summit Brewing Company, 910 Montreal Circle, St. Paul

It’s a holiday market like no other, showcasing over 25 locally owned business businesses.
www.aliveness.org •  www.summitbrewing.com

2024 Holidazzle
December 18-22 • Five Blocks of Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis

Holidazzle is back with a full slate of family-friendly fun! Light and art installations, holiday hopping pop-ups, two entertainment stages, visits with Santa and so much more! Check out the website for a complete schedule of events and times — it’s a free festival on five blocks over five days!
www.holidazzle.com

Winter Solstice Celebration
December 20 • 5-9 p.m. • American Swedish Institute, Minneapolis

What could be better than marking the shortest day and the longest night than doing so at the ASI? A special festival menu with small plates and warm Swedish mulled wine will be served by FIKA Café, and the Museum Store and Jul Shop will both be open late for attendees’ shopping needs. They’ll even have reindeer!
www.asimn.org/event/winter-solstice

JANUARY

Minnesota Timberwolves Pride Night
January 6 • 7 p.m. • Target Center, 600 N. 1st Ave., Minneapolis
Dig out your brightest rainbow attire and cheer the Timberwolves as they take on the LA Clippers!
www.timberwolves.com/tickets

Low-Pet Law-Pet Challenge
January 12 • Races start and end in the lower Stadium

Formerly known as the Pre-Loppet, this event includes both ski races and fat bike events, as well as kids’ ski events.
www.loppet.org/events/preloppet

Northeast Farmers Market
January 12, February 9, March 9, April 13 • 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. • Quincy Hall, 1325 Quincy St. NE, Minneapolis

Enjoy local foods and goods all year round! Eat healthy and buy locally. Please, leave pets at home.
www.northeastfarmersmarket.com

Frostival
January 31 to February 8 • Fargo and West Fargo, N.D. and Moorhead, Minn.

If you can’t beat winter, then join it! Winter kickball, volleyball, disc golf, cardboard sled races, massive bouncy castles, snow sculpture competitions — you’ll find all of that and so much more during the chilly madness of Frostival!
www.frostival.com

Neighborhood Roots at Bachman’s on Lyndale
January 11, February 8, March 8 • 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. • 6010 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis

Taking place indoors, this market series will feature all of your favorite vendors from Kingfield, Fulton and Nokomis Farmers Market.
www.neighborhoodrootsmn.org/winter-markets

Fourth Annual World Snow Sculpting Championship
January 15-19 • Lowell Park, Stillwater, Minn.

“There’s NO business like SNOW business!” And, there’s no sight quite like that of teams coming together from around the world to compete in the creation of incredible snow sculptures as they vie for prize money and the title of World Champion. Attendees will have the chance to enjoy plenty of activities, ceremonies, social events and the people’s choice award.
www.worldsnowsculptingstillwatermn.com

Art Shanty Projects
January 18 to February 9 • Public hours from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday • Lake Harriet/Bde Unma, Minneapolis

Indulge in a whimsical, weird, unique experience that inspires joy in everyone from kids to adults. This yearly interactive art project, inspired by the ice fishing villages so prominent on Minnesota lakes, has an anything-goes motto as far as construction and decoration for the 150-plus artists who participate. Just don’t bring your fishing pole! 
www.artshantyprojects.org 

20th Annual U.S. Pond Hockey Championships
January 22-26 • Lake Nokomis, Minneapolis

Hockey is as natural to Minnesota as breathing, so why not layer up and come out to watch players hit the ice as nature intended!?
www.uspondhockey.com

138th Annual Saint Paul Winter Carnival
January 23 to February 2 • Various St. Paul venues

Come out to enjoy this St. Paul tradition that celebrates all things winter! Watch ice-carving competitions, enjoy free artistic and educational activities, music, dance, food, the medallion hunt and so much more. Most events are free and open to the public and will take place near Rice Park and Landmark Center in downtown St. Paul as well as at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds.
www.wintercarnival.com

16th Annual Anthony Ford Pond Hockey Classic
January 25-26 • Spring Lake Park, Mankato, Minn.

This two-day event is more than just a chance to enjoy hockey as it was meant to be played! Of course, it offers opportunities for both youth and adult players to show off their skills, but there are also options for all kinds of family fun such as a sledding hill, a warming house and 12 separate professional rinks. Entry fees go to help local charities that support fighting childhood leukemia.
www.anthonyford99.com

John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon
January 26 • Duluth to the Canadian border and back

The longest sled dog race in the lower 48, the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon sees competitors mushing in an event that covers nearly 400 miles and is a qualifier for the Iditarod race in Alaska. Come out to the 40^th running of this spectacle and cheer on these mighty mushers at Northern Minnesota’s top winter attraction.
www.beargrease.com • www.visitduluth.com

FEBRUARY

City of Lakes Loppet Winter Festival
February 1-2 • Theodore Wirth Park, Minneapolis

Originally designed as a cross-country ski race, the City of Lakes Loppet has become a winter staple that includes the Luminary Loppet, Cross-Country Ski, Skijor, Snowshoe, Fat Tire Bike events and more through Theodore Wirth Park.
www.loppet.org/events/festival

Brainerd Jaycees Ice Fishing Extravaganza
February 1 • Hole in the Day Bay, Gull Lake, Minn.

One of the largest charitable ice fishing contests on earth, the event was founded in 1991 and is held ten miles north of Brainerd.
www.icefishing.org

Chilly Open
February 8 • Lake Minnetonka, Wayzata Bay

Minnesota golf in February? You betcha! Freezing temperatures won’t stop 2,000-plus Minnesotans from bringing out their hockey sticks and golf clubs to play a few rounds on four 9-hole courses plowed out on Lake Minnetonka. The golf tournament is a pre-registered event only, but there are plenty of other great things to indulge in for everyone else!
www.chillyopen.wayzatachamber.com

United We Shiver
February 1 • Lake Orono Park, Elk River, Minn.

Raise pledges for your favorite non-profit and take the plunge into Lake Orono! In addition to the icy plunge for those hardy souls willing to dive in, there are also plenty of other fun things for the whole family to enjoy such as a 5K and 10K run/walk, bean bag tournament, live music, food and a medallion hunt.
www.sherburneunitedway.org/unitedweshiver

Ely Winter Festival
February 6-16 • Ely, Minn.

Come on up for ten days of activities that celebrate the joys of winter in the Boundary Waters region! Snow carvings, the Ely ArtWalk and fun for all abound.
www.elywinterfestival.com

Dog Mushing! Women’s Winter Adventure 2024
February 6-9 or March 6-9 • 82 Irish Creek Rd., Hovland, Minn.

Have you ever had dreams of racing across the winter landscape behind your very own team of sled dogs? Here’s your chance! This is a true off-the-grid adventure for those wishing to learn about and participate in a wonderfully unique winter sport.
www.points-unknown.com/women/

Luminary Loppet
February 8 • Lake of the Isles, Minneapolis

Join us for a fun-filled candlelit night that is the Twin Cities’ most magical event of the season as you walk the trail lit up by over 1,200 luminaries. Enjoy refreshments along the trail, as well as food trucks, music and Utepils Brewing beer.
www.loppet.org/events/luminary

41st Annual Finlandia Ski Marathon
February 15 • Bemidji, Minn.

Attracting skiers from around the world, the Finlandia cross-country ski event has been held in Bemidji since 1982 and is often called “The Nordic Festival of the North.” The event is open to skiers of all experience levels.
www.visitbemidji.com • www.minnesotafinlandia.com

MARCH

Minnesota Wild Pride Night
March 13 • 7 p.m. • Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul

Come out and join your Wild players as they show their Pride while taking on the New York Rangers. The ticket pack includes a ticket to the game, an exclusive Wild Pride-branded item and a donation to the Twin Cities Pride.
https://fevo-enterprise.com/event/PN-50313NYR

All events are subject to change or cancellation, so please check their websites before making plans to attend.