It was an honor to partner with The Great Northern Festival and Target and spend last Friday exploring some of the Twin Cities' most exciting winter activities!

The Great Northern Festival encompasses many of the winter-themed events that occur over a 10 day span in the heart of winter. The collaborative celebration across St Paul and Minneapolis is all about embracing winter, getting outside and having fun! It is a way of showcasing how we do winter in the north!

Some of the Great Northern activities include the Loppet, the Winter Carnival in St Paul, the Vulcan Snow Park at the State Fairgrounds, horse drawn trollies, giant snow slides, an outdoor Winter feast and the US Championship Pond Hockey Tournament. 

We spent the day at the US Pond Hockey Tournament on Lake Nokomis. There are 25 ice rinks with hockey games being played - on a frozen lake! It was pretty amazing. We loved being outside on a beautiful sunny day. (All that sun probably was not good for the ice though!) There was a DJ, food, and tons of people having fun. An electric atmosphere.

That evening we headed into St Paul and checked out the beautiful Ice Palace at the St Paul Winter Carnival. It was absolutely magical to me. Twinkle lights, music, and ice ice ice!

It was a wonderful day. We went to sleep with rosy cheeks and bellies filled with hot cocoa.

Thanks for the fun Great Northern Festival!!

Learn more on their site: www.thegreatnorthernfestival.com