New 10-day festival to showcase best of Minnesota's winter

The Great Northern, a 10-day festival starting on Jan. 27, will include traditional favorites, such as the St. Paul Winter Carnival and the City of Lakes Loppet, as well as new events. 

A major new event will be heating up the Twin Cities this winter.

Plans were revealed on Thursday for The Great Northern, a 10-day festival that will take place in both Minneapolis and St. Paul starting on Jan. 27.

Some of the most popular events of the season, including the St. Paul Winter Carnival, U.S. Pond Hockey Championships, and the City of Lakes Loppet will all be taking place during that span.

Organizers say the goal of the festival is to showcase what’s fun about Minnesota’s winters.

“Winter doesn’t have to be something we hide from,” Eric Dayton, one of the event organizers, said. “[It] doesn’t have to be something we can apologize for and we believe we can make winter a season Minnesotans look forward to and it can be a defining asset, instead of a liability.”

Besides traditional favorites, some new events are also in the works. More details on them will be announced in the coming weeks. 

More information on The Great Northern can be found here