MN Winter Lake Events

Lake of the Isles Luminary Loppet

On February 8, the Luminary Loppet will light up Lake of the Isles. The Luminary Loppet is a winter festival that consists of many ice sculptures and candles. You can walk, snowshoe, or ski the trail. The first Luminary Loppet was held in 2006 with around only 150 participants. Nowadays, around 10-15 thousand people enjoy a candlelit night on a frozen lake. In 2023 and 2024, the ice was not safe to be on because of warmer winter temperatures. This led to postponing and moving the Loppet to land. Now, there is both an on and off-ice map.

Lake Minnetonka Chilly Open

The Chilly Open is a perfect opportunity to enjoy golf during the winter when normal golf courses are closed. You can use a traditional golf club or a hockey stick for your club, and tennis balls are used instead of golf balls. The Chilly Open takes place on Lake Minnetonka, where four nine-hole golf courses are getting prepared for Feb. 8. Golf isn’t the only event. There is “Snowga” (Snow yoga), a buffet, and snow kite racing as well. The Chilly Open was canceled last year due to unsafe conditions on the ice.

Lake Harriet Art Shanty

The Art Shanty is an event where artists create shanties (small shacks) on Lake Harriet. It’s a fun event to go to because the shanties are colorful, interactive, and send positive messages. The art shanty was postponed last year due to unsafe ice conditions.

The 7th graders just finished the inclusive playground project, which was about making playgrounds fun and accessible for everybody. Over the last couple of years, the Art Shanty has focused on accessibility to make sure that anyone who wants to participate is able to.

English teacher Ms. Nussbaum is participating in the Art Shanty. She is performing in the shanty, Where Do Pigeons Go in Winter?

Climate Change

The 2024 winter was the warmest Minnesota winter ever. Temperatures were 10 degrees above normal temperatures. All of the winter lake events in this article were impacted by the weak winter. We all hope this winter will have lots of snow and cold temperatures.