Bundle Up And Head Outdoors To These Top Winter Festivals

07.01.2024 - 22:41 / forbes.com

Fans of winter weather can celebrate the season by attending a winter festival or carnival. Certain destinations across North America and other parts of the world present these ice and snow-related events to bring attendees outdoors and take in public art installations, celebratory activities or games of skill. Some even brighten up the night or day with illuminated fixtures. Pull out your winter boots and heavy coats and plan a trip to these annual winter festivals.

The Fire & Ice Festival in downtown Canandaigua has some impressive ice sculptures on view throughout the district. The weekend event’s schedule also features ice carving competitions, a fireman experience, and a frozen t-shirt contest. Other festival activities are more warming, such as a warm beverage trail, fire shows and a SOUPerb food challenge.

These two destinations within Banff National Park provide a snowy landscape for this festival, which has been extended to five days this year.

Among the highlights for the 2024 festival, the Ice Magic Competition is returning to the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, marking its first time there since 2020. This frosty contest will consist of eight teams of world-class carvers going up against each other in sculpting frozen masterpieces tailored to the theme, “Moments of Bliss in Banff National Park."

Other “SnowDays” events include a trail of snow sculptures throughout downtown Banff, skijoring along Banff Avenue, a winter activity play zone, dog sledding and ice skating on Lake Louise and sleigh rides in both Lake Louise and Banff.

Now in its 29^th year, this Winterfest welcomes the U.S. National Snow Sculpting Championship, the only event of its kind in the country.

Fifteen teams from across the U.S. come to Lake Geneva to participate in a three-day competition testing to their artistic talents on crafting incredible sculptures. The public can view their finished pieces and also partake in other planned festivities such as live entertainment and the “Bonfires on the Beach” event.

This snowy showdown brings teams from around the world to Rocky Mountain town to hand-carve 25-ton blocks of snow into massive and often impressive art fixtures. No power tools are permitted! Over the course of five days, these teams build a temporary outdoor art gallery in downtown Breckenridge.

The event’s Sculpting Week is January 22-26, while the Viewing Week is January 26-31, 2024; it’s recommended to go to view them January 28-31. The public can cast their vote for favorite sculpture as well.

This festival in this city on northern Japanese island of Hokkaido was started in 1950 by a group of students creating snow sculptures in Odori Park. Today, the festival mainly takes place in Odori Park, where these