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Winter Festivals


Snow Sculpture

After the holiday season, when the lights have been taken down and those of us who live in cold climates still have endless months of snow and darkness to endure before spring, there is a spark of brightness: the Winter Festival.

Usually held in January and February, these festivals celebrate winter with ice palaces, parades, sleigh rides and other events.

The largest winter carnival is held in Quebec and attracts nearly a million visitors. It features a parades with floats, musicians and entertainers, a large and elaborate ice palace, an international snow sculpting event and a dogsled race.

Alaska's Fur Rendezvous celebrates the fur industry which was a major Alaskan industry at the time the event was first held in 1936. It is now one of the largest winter festivals in North America.

Saint Paul's Winter Carnival got its start in 1886 after a New York reporter wrote that the city was "another Siberia, unfit for human habitation". They proved him wrong with the a Carnival complete with a royal court and an palace made from Minnesota lake ice. Since then, it has grown to be the largest winter carnival in the United States.

Here are some of winter festivals held in North America. Click on name of any city to visit a website about the event:

Canada

  • Alberta

    • Calgary - Winterfest
      Winterfest is Calgary's celebration of winter with fun for people of all ages.
      February 11 - 21, 2005

United States

  • Colorado

    • Aspen - Winterskol
      Aspen's salute to winter which was first held in 1951.
      January 13 - 16, 2005

  • North Carolina

    • Blowing Rock - Winterfest
      Activities include Dog Sledding, Live Bluegrass, Chili Cook-Off, and Polar Plunge.
      January 27 - 30, 2005



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