Minneapolis’s Iconic Celebration of Winter

Growing from a once humble cross-country ski race in 2003, the City of Lakes Loppet Winter Festival has come to define all that is magical about winter in The North.

The three-day festival encompasses the Luminary Loppet, which annually draws 10,000 people to the candlelit Lake of the Isles, a variety of point-to-point cross-country ski, Freewheel bike, Chuck & Don’s skijor, and Askov Finlayson snowshoe loppets (both competitive races and non-competitive touring events) that link Bde Maka Ska through the Minneapolis Chain of Lakes to Theodore Wirth Park, and a number of unique events, such as the Minne-Loppet, Captain Ken’s Kubb Tournament (the 10th annual this year!) and the Southwest Journal Snow Scuplture Contest.

Whether you are a lifelong Minnesotan or visiting from across the globe, so long as you are willing to bundle up and get outside and active, we assure you that your experience will fill you with wonder.

Learn more and register City of Lakes Loppet Winter Festival events through each event’s page. You can search either by clicking “Events by Category” or “Schedule / Events by Day” below.

COVID-19 Update

Loppet is a Scandinavian term which translates rougly to “adventure over uncertain terrain.”

Most years, for the Loppet Foundation, that means planning events to accomodate uncertain snow and weather conditions. This year, in the shadow of COVID-19, the term takes on a whole new meaning. We, like you, do not know what the future will bring and we cannot promise precisely what this year’s City of Lakes Loppet Winter Festival will look like.

But we do know that when you register for an event, you are investing in the Loppet community, and we can promise that we — the volunteers and staff who make up that community — will work with diligence, creativity, and hope, committed to once again making magic happen in spite of the current global situation.

We would like to thank these sponsors for helping to make this major winter celebration possible.