About the Festival

 

The Cherry Capital Winter WonderFest is a four-day winter celebration of music, food, and fun that takes place each year on President’s Day Weekend. There’s so much going on that we couldn’t fit it all into a single location, so there are events and activities happening all around the Traverse City area!

Just look:

In the “Winter Fun Zone” at the Grand Traverse Resort & Spa you can choose from rides on ponies, dogsleds, snowmobiles and horse-drawn sleighs, sledding, ice skating, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and a selection of competitive events that range from the familiar (the Running Fit Frosty 5K foot race and a kid’s snowshoe race) to the unlikely (a “frozen fish toss” and a “Polar Plunge” event where daring swimmers jump into an icy pond to raise money for charity). There are bonfires, films, live music, fireworks, and lots of festive food and beverages.

Nearby at the Mt. Holiday Ski Area, there’ll be such offbeat competitions as a snowboarding “rail jam” event, a Downhill Dash race down the ski hill (on skis, snowboards, even bikes), a “Big Air” Championship, and the Cardboard Bobsled-o-Rama in which competitors must use sleds made only with cardboard, tape and paint.

Meanwhile, in charming Downtown Traverse City, there’ll be ice carving and snow sculpture displays, a “frozen bed race” through the streets and the popular “Soup’r Bowl” competition where you’ll get to slurp up soups created by our best local chefs and cast ballots for your favorite. Later in the day, there’ll be more fun competitions – like the Brain Freeze ice cream eating contest and the Monster Dog Pull, where your canine pal can show just how strong he is!

A portion of the Winter WonderFest proceeds goes to support the programs of Special Olympics Michigan and the TCCVB Education Foundation Scholarship Fund.