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USA: Ten Great Winter Festivals
for Families.
 From
Rhode Island to Montana and Minnesota to Tennessee, it is time to celebrate the
season. Created so that
everyone can have more fun, these ten events are part of the menu of winter festivities listed in our directory of
family-friendly events. Make plans to enjoy the season. For vacation ideas and
travel advice look in the Snow Places folder.
Tennessee: 15th
annual WinterFest. (November
5, 2004 - February 29, 2005) More than four million lights will sparkle throughout Pigeon Forge each year
during this four-month-long event. Beginning with the flip of a switch WinterFest lights twinkle across the city. Trolley tours provide the perfect way to enjoy the animated
displays of mountain waterfalls, eagles in flight, dancing bears and twinkling snowflakes. Other events include WinterFest Trolley Tours, the
annual Wilderness
Wildlife Week, annual Saddle Up, and the annual Smokey Mountains Storytelling Festival.
1-800-WINTERFEST (1-800-946-8373) OR www.mypigeonforge.com
Illinois: Chicago’s 12th
Annual Magnificent Mile Lights Festival® (November 26, 2004 –February 27, 2005) Starting off with Mickey
Mouse the winter season is transformed into a sparkling wonderland. This display will include a 14-block installation of winter gardens transformed with illuminated sculptures
from the Chicago River to Oak Street. The event features spectacular fireworks over the Chicago River at Michigan Avenue every Saturday evening. FYI: Every Saturday evening,
Pioneer Court at 401 N. Michigan Avenue will offer the best fireworks viewing, free holographic fireworks viewing glasses, themed music and family fun. Chicago. Festival
hotline, 1(312) 409-5560
or www.themagnificentmile.com
Colorado: 53rd Wintersköl Celebration.
(January 12-16. 2005) Wintersköl is Aspen’s spirited tribute to the Nordic lifestyle of winter. For four days, more than 20,000 locals and visitors from around the world join
in the celebration. Wintersköl features more than 40 events in downtown Aspen and the four area mountains. Events include a lively parade, the famed canine fashion show, the
wild Snowmass splash, Buttermilk Uphill Race, Wintersculpt and a fireworks extravaganza over Aspen Mountain. Aspen. 1 (970) 925-1940 or
www.aspenchamber.org
Washington: Bavarian Ice Fest. (January 14-16, 2005) It’s a winter play day in Front Street City Park in this Bavaria-inspired hamlet located 122 miles East of Seattle. This event is complete with dogsled
pulling competitions and a snowshoe race. There will be a very slippery tug-of-war, an ice cube hunt for the little ones, and a snow sculpture contest, plus the “Great
Leavenworth Smooshing Race,” where four-person teams (all four folks attached to a single pair of skis) race other teams similarly bound together. Leavenworth. 1(509) 548-5807
or www.leavenworth.org
 Minnesota: 118th Annual St. Paul Winter Carnival.
(January 19 - February 6, 2005) The Winter Carnival remains the oldest and largest festival in the nation and this year it will be expanded to three weeks. The Carnival
celebrates the culture of winter. For twin city residents there is no such thing as inclement weather. The colder the better…more snow is the wish as the days to the festival
dwindle. Ice sculptures, parades, sleigh rides, golf games, snow bank treasure hunts, and plenty of singing and merriment. The focus of the event is the reenactment of the
legend about the conflict between King Boreas the monarch of winter and his arch-rival Vulcanus Rex. The Saint Paul Winter Carnival Ice Palace is always grand. Saint Paul,
55102. 1(651) 223-4700 or www.winter-carnival.com
Montana: Take Your Children to the Snow Week.
(Jan. 28 - Feb. 06, 2005) This year, as in years past, Big Mountain will hold "Children's Week" to encourage all youngsters to give snow sports a try. Special
junior lift tickets for $17 will be available the whole week. The mountain invites parents to come with their kids and celebrate family days on the mountain. There are ski and
snowboard runs for all levels and plenty of space to chill out, snow tub or snow cycle. 1(406) 862-2900 or www.bigmtn.com
Rhode Island: 18th
annual Newport Winter Festival. (Feb. 11-20, 2005.) Jazz on ice, snow sculptures, ice carving and family fun. Highlights include Beatlemania and
a chili cook-off.
Creativity and competition are put to the test with sand and ice sculptures. This is designed to be pure fun for ten days with more than 150 fun family and adult activities
planned. 1(401) 847-7666 Winter Festival Hotline or www.gonewport.com
Arizona: Flagstaff Winterfest.
(January 28-Febrary 27, 2005) Up in the San Francisco Peaks high-country region they get plenty of the white fluffy stuff, some 95 inches annually. Residents celebrate their
powdery bounty with a month-long flight filled with dozens of family events ranging from cross-country ski races and snow softball to stargazing. 1-800-842-7293 or
www.flagstaff.az.us/
New York: Saranac Lake Winter Carnival. (February 4 - 13, 2005) From a small community celebration that began in 1897this celebration of the season is impressive. Kids relate to Sara the Snowy Owl who is
the mascot for this icy carnival. Each year she awaits the building of a special ice castle on the shore of Lake Flower. Created to enhance the fairy-tale-looking Adirondack
winter, it is the perfect backdrop to 10 days of merry-making marked with parades and fireworks, cross-country skiing and ice skating exhibitions, dances and concerts. All
presided over by the carnival king and queen. (February 4-13, 2005 and February 3-12, 2006.) Saranac Lake. 1-800-347-1992 or
www.saranaclake.com
Alaska: Anchorage Fur Rendezvous. (February 18- March 5, 2005) The biggest winter festival in a mighty big state. The “Fur Rondy” as it’s known locally, is a call-of-the-wild
celebration featuring a world championship sled dog race, dog weight pulls, outhouse races, the Frostbite Foot Race, snowshoe soft-ball, Native Alaskan blanket tosses, a Grand Prix car race,
and America’s largest outdoor public fur auction. Anchorage. 1(907) 276-4118 or 1-800-446-5352 or www.furrondy.net
More Snow Ideas.
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