The holiday season has come and gone, which lands us square in the middle of another Ohio winter. And while some dread the oncoming snow, ice and slush, there are many who embrace the change of seasons and accept the cold as a way of life for the first few months of the year.
The Midwest is known for this mentality, especially as you go further north and west from our beloved home state.
Many of the states around Ohio celebrate winter on another level. Here are suggestions for Midwest winter festivals for those who refuse to let cabin fever into their homes.
St. Paul Winter Carnival: Jan. 26-Feb. 5
This event started with the sentiments of the Midwest firmly in the hearts of its founders. Reporters from the eastern U.S. likened the Midwest to Siberia, saying it was unfit for comfortable everyday life.
Dedicated Minnesotans took this as a call to arms in 1885, launching the St. Paul Winter Carnival the following year. They were fortunate that Montreal was having a smallpox outbreak, as they snatched the talents of the Canadian city’s lead ice sculptor, Alexander Hutchinson. Hutchinson designed St. Paul’s first ice palace, which measured 106 feet tall.
The tradition of constructing the ice palace is important to Twin Cities residents, and the 1992 Pepsi Palace set a Guinness World Record for its 165-foot stature, at a cost of nearly $2 million.
Gawking at magnificent ice sculptures is not the only thing to do during this nearly two-week event.
There is a constant rotation of live music, as well as fireworks and ice skating. Local towns such as White Bear Lake get in on the action, too, with a “golf on ice” event proving popular in recent years.
You can also take a “Gangsters and Ghosts” walking tour, which exhibits the history of the city
in a new, chilling light.
The event overlaps with another cultural touchstone event for Minnesotans: the U.S. Pond Hockey Championships.
Michigan Tech Winter Carnival: Feb. 8-11
Another lake-heavy state that knows how to celebrate the cold is our rival neighbor to the north.
Michigan Technology University, which sits on one of the highest points of Michigan’s upper peninsula, hosts a Winter Carnival that just celebrated its 100-year anniversary in 2022.
The carnival features two ice-sculpting competitions, one of which lasts a month and boasts larger-than-life sculptures of buildings, people and more, as well as an overnight competition for artists who have enough ice in their veins to work under a dusk-till-dawn time crunch.
Each year the carnival hosts a Sno-Ball dance and a plethora of sports and activities. These include the ever-popular broomball (a version of hockey that utilizes altered sticks and no skates) and human sled dog races in which six people pull along a sled that holds four passengers for a 100-yard dash.
The event takes place on Lake Superior, where you can view a frozen horizon longer than you can find anywhere else.
University of Okoboji Winter Games: Jan. 26-29
This event started as a broomball tournament in 1981 and has since turned into an exhibition of eclectic winter sports and activities.
There is no University of Okoboji. The event is organized by the Iowa Great Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by local businesses.
Okoboji is the secluded home to many lakes and great surfaces for flag football, ATV races, broomball and other activities for those who love staying active out in the cold.
Live music, axe throwing, a polar plunge, mega snow pong and a pickleball tournament all dot the schedule over the course of the long weekend, which leads up to “The Burning of the Greens,” wherein Iowans set a pile of discarded Christmas trees ablaze.
Tyler Kirkendall is an editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at tkirkendall@cityscenemediagroup.com.
