Red Bull Crashed Ice — which drew up to 150,000 spectators to St. Paul annually — skated out to Boston. Phalen Park’s “Holiday Lights in the Park” has gone dark. And Stillwater Ice Castles is moving to Excelsior.
Even the Art Shanty Projects that drew attendees by the tens of thousands to frozen shores of White Bear Lake, Plymouth and Minneapolis won’t return in early 2019, at least not in the same monthlong capacity.
You might call this the winter of our discontent. Especially coming off last year’s glitzy Super Bowl extravaganza that helped make the coldest season in the Twin Cities one to remember.
But there is hope.
Here’s a brief guide — by no means exhaustive — to winter traditions and potential alternatives this season.
For a thorough guide to east-metro winter happenings, check out the Visit St. Paul tourism bureau online at visitsaintpaul.com/blog/our-holiday-event-picks/.
WINTER CHEER
The traditions:
RICE PARK TREE LIGHTING: In St. Paul, the annual Rice Park tree-lighting ceremony is still scheduled for this weekend, fireworks and all, though not exactly in Rice Park.
With the downtown park still being remodeled by the city, the giant evergreen that typically towers over visitors this time of year has been relocated to Hamm Plaza, on the north side of Landmark Center at Sixth and St. Peter streets.
The perimeter of the park is adorned with seasonal lights. The open-air WellsFargo WinterSkate rink is also back in front of Landmark Center from Nov. 17 to Feb. 3.
St. Paul Winter Carnival activities (Jan. 24 to Feb. 3) will move from Rice Park to Kellogg Mall Park on Kellogg Boulevard between Robert and Wabasha streets.
HOLIDAY LIGHTS IN THE PARK: The half-mile Holiday Lights in the Park display that illuminated Phalen Park each Christmas won’t be coming back.
The displays, first organized in 2008 by King of Kings Lutheran Church in Woodbury and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, were handled in more recent years by the St. Paul Police Foundation. Citing difficulty recruiting volunteers and limited success raising funds for charity, the foundation pulled the plug after the 2016 run.
HOLIDAZZLE: For more than 20 years, elaborate holiday parades featuring 350,000 lights and 300 costumed characters illuminated Nicollet Avenue in downtown Minneapolis every weekend between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
The annual Holidazzle Parades lost their funding in 2013, capping a tradition that had warmed hearts since 1992. What could compare? Head on over to Loring Park, where the tradition continues — minus the floats — with elaborate light displays, outdoor movies, skating, photos with Santa Claus, fireworks and beer sales.
Visit Holidazzle.com for a complete calendar of events, which run from Nov. 23 to Dec. 23.
STILLWATER ICE CASTLES: Ice Castles — an elaborate attraction in Stillwater’s downtown Lowell Park for the past few years — is moving west to the shores of Lake Minnetonka and opening in Excelsior at the end of December. The frozen village drew as many as 5,000 people on a busy day last year, but the rehab of the Stillwater Lift Bridge has complicated park access.
This isn’t the first time the castles have been on the move. Ice Castles, which also builds displays in Colorado, New Hampshire, Utah and Wisconsin, had been in Eden Prairie. Visit icecastles.com/excelsior.
ART SHANTY PROJECTS: It was an upstart idea, back in 2004, when Minneapolis photographer Peter Haakon Thompson built an art shanty on a frozen lake as a kind of refuge from the art world.
The next year, more shanties proliferated on Medicine Lake in Plymouth, causing confused Hennepin County sheriff’s deputies to investigate. The art shanties moved to White Bear Lake from 2015 to 2017.
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By February 2018, some 22 shanties and 20 live performances — all ranging from the quirky to the bizarre — had relocated to Lake Harriet in Minneapolis, drawing some 40,000 visitors with them.
Will the Art Shanty Projects return in early 2019? Fundraising continues online, but board members say when a major grant fell through, so did their chances of a repeat performance on such an elaborate scale.
“We have no plans to do a formal event,” said board member Scot Nortrom, who said the project has skipped years in the past. “We’re still looking at possibilities for a smaller event on Lake Harriet, but the official festival is not happening in 2019. This is not the first year we have not been on the ice, but it was a bit unexpected for us.” Visit artshantyprojects.org.
HOLIDAY MARKETS: Here’s a tradition that isn’t going away — or even taking a break — and is actually expanding. For fans of holiday markets, a plethora of venues means choices abound, with at least six major options in St. Paul alone.
On West Seventh Street, the artists who now call the Schmidt Brewery home will display their wares and talents during the Fifth Annual Holiday Market, Nov. 23 to 25. Next door at the new Keg and Case Market, a tree-lighting ceremony and a visit with Santa warm up Black Friday, Nov. 23, and Santa returns for Small Business Saturday the next day.
The Union Depot on Kellogg Boulevard will a host its popular European Christmas Market from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2, and Dec. 7 to Dec. 10. A tree-lighting ceremony takes place at the depot at 7 p.m. Nov. 30 following a holiday performance by Cities 97’s Keri Noble. A free movie, “Elf,” begins at 7:30 p.m.
Now in its 40th year, the downtown St. Paul Landmark Center’s Holiday Bazaar will feature holiday music and refreshments, Nov. 29 to Dec.1. Grand Avenue hosts the fifth-annual Grand Meander on Dec. 1, complete with trolley rides and carolers. The new RiverCentre Holiday Market takes place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 15.
MUSIC
The tradition: The pop-driven “Cities 97 Sampler” is a tradition that dates back 30 years. The station has let it be known that the CD that hit Target shelves in mid-November will be the last Sampler. Blame the internet — it appears fewer and fewer music lovers are buying CDs these days.
Alternatives: Check out a live show at downtown St. Paul’s new music venue, the Palace Theatre, or grab the kids and head to the downtown Landmark Center for free and low-cost concerts and dance demonstrations. From 7 to 8:30 p.m. Dec. 18 at the Landmark, the Rose Ensemble will present “A Tudor Christmas Sing-Along.”
At noon Dec. 20, the Schubert Club offers a courtroom concert featuring winter songs and carols by more than a dozen Minnesota composers and songwriters. Both events are free.
BARS AND RESTAURANTS
The tradition: With so much fresh competition in the bar, taproom and restaurant scene, it’s been a tough time for small independent operators. In St. Paul, you won’t be able to raise a holiday pint glass at mainstays like the Muddy Pig and Fabulous Fern’s, which called it quits this year, as did their younger counterpart Ward 6. Bonfire on Grand Avenue also closed after 15 years. Meanwhile, O’Gara’s Bar and Grill plans to reopen in 2020 with a smaller footprint. “We are not closing,” says their website. “We are reinventing ourselves.”
Alternatives: There are almost too many new restaurants, tap rooms and distilleries to pick from, as well as plenty of celebrated favorites that have survived the years.
How’s this for nontraditional? This summer, Can Can Wonderland — a mini-golf venue and indoor arcade on St. Paul’s Prior Avenue — added a self-serve “tap wall” with an array of 36 taps, including four types of wine, eight cocktails, cold-press coffee and kombucha. Patrons are given a radio-frequency wristband that tracks the amount of liquid poured.
“There’s instructions on how to pour properly,” said Can Can owner Jennifer Pennington. Consider it the start of a new tradition. Maybe the bartender of the future will be you.
SPORTS
The tradition: After seven hair-raising seasons near the Cathedral of St. Paul, the Red Bull Crashed Ice international extreme skating contest that pits racers in an icy downhill chute will hold races in Japan, Finland and Boston this winter, but not in Minnesota’s capital city.
Organizers reportedly wanted to grow the sport by introducing it to new venues.
Alternatives: Could Red Bull Crashed Ice return to the Twin Cities someday? Time will tell.
For now, fans of cold-weather sports could head over to the new Tria Rink in downtown St. Paul to check out a Minnesota Wild practice or the Whitecaps, the state’s newest professional team, who are in their first season with the National Women’s Hockey League.
The National Collegiate Hockey Conference’s Frozen Faceoff will be at the Xcel Energy Center on March 22-23.
And, of course, the Minnesota state high school hockey tournaments will take place Feb. 20-23 for girls and March 6-9 for boys.
Copyright 2018 Pioneer Press.
