About Us

About The Great Northern

Creating community, inspiring action, and sharing the resilient spirit of the North with the world

The Great Northern (TGN) hosts an annual 10-day winter festival across the Twin Cities. We inspire conversations, foster community, and bring people together during the most isolating time of the year: Minnesota’s long, cold winters. We encourage our audience to get outdoors, build connections, stay active, and celebrate the perspectives, communities, cultures, and ecosystems that make this region special.

Through multidisciplinary events, TGN highlights the urgency of climate change, encouraging awareness, action, and shared responsibility. By cultivating authentic, reciprocal relationships with our audience and partners, we contribute to a broader cultural shift toward environmental stewardship and collective care.

  • “It’s snowing and 10 degrees outside and there’s never been a better time to head to Minnesota.”

    Food & Wine

  • "Minnesota does cold better than anywhere else"

    Departures

  • "One of the world’s top winter festivals"

    Travel + Leisure

Addressing our changing winters

While The Great Northern involves joy and celebration, it also highlights an existential threat to winter: climate change. There is no place on earth unaffected by warming weather. In our own region, we are already seeing some of our most beloved traditions diminished and our environment compromised. In celebrating winter, The Great Northern is also a call to action. To that end, we’ve expanded the festival’s impact by presenting a broad range of programming focused on climate change. We remain committed to exploring the richness of our winter art scene and highlighting diverse perspectives on how we, as a community, embrace winter.

Our programming

Led by Jovan C. Speller Rebollar, Executive Director, and Kate Nordstrum, Chief Programming Officer, The Great Northern includes world premiere performances, food events, site specific art, panels and speakers, films, regional craft, commissioned writing, storytelling, partnerships with local and national institutions, and outdoor activations.

  • Arts

    Performances, site-specific art, film, writing, and more by visionary local, national, and international artists of all disciplines. Events speak to this place, the winter season, and our common humanity.

  • Outdoor/Active

    Events that get the blood pumping, promote healthy lifestyles, and embrace nature in winter.

  • Food & Drink

    Curated experiences focused on craft, regionality, and seasonality.

  • Climate

    Keynote conversations, panels, live podcasts and more that allow us to explore our changing climate through the lenses of culture and heritage, the economy, and social equity.

History

The Great Northern is grateful for the support of founding partners City of Lakes Loppet, Saint Paul Winter Carnival and U.S. Pond Hockey Championships.

Since 1886, the Saint Paul Winter Carnival has brought family-friendly events and community pride to Saint Paul and the Twin Cities metro area. Through city-wide special events, The Saint Paul Winter Carnival attracts over 250,000 visitors a year and has an approximately $2–$3 million dollar economic impact to the city of Saint Paul and the State of Minnesota.

The City of Lakes Loppet Winter Festival includes festivities for skiers, bikers, skijorers, and snowshoers of all ages and abilities, in addition to events for the biggest fans of the season. Events like Captain Ken’s Kubb Tournament, the Southwest Journal Snow Sculpture Contest, and the Star Tribune Skate Ski Loppet provide unique ways to enjoy a true Minnesotan winter. And the Luminary Loppet is guaranteed to be the most magical night of the year.

Established in 2006, the U.S. Pond Hockey Championships have given hockey enthusiasts a premier opportunity to experience hockey the way nature intended. Uniquely Minnesotan, this winter tradition is one of the most exciting events of the season with over 2,300 adult players and more than 20,000 spectators over the three day event. Since its inception, the tournament has received one billion media impressions including features on ESPN, NBC’s Today’s Show, USA Today, Sports Illustrated, Good Morning America and many others.