Final Weekend of Polar Fest in Detroit Lakes

Crowds gather to watch the grand lighting of the ice palace along the Detroit Lakes City Beach.

DETROIT LAKES (KDLM) – This weekend marks the final weekend of Polar Fest in Detroit Lakes.

The two week festival will conclude Saturday with the 26th Annual Polar Fest Plunge on Little Detroit Lake and Frozen Fireworks at 7 p.m.

This will also be the final weekend of the Ice Palace before crews begin dismantling the structure. Volunteers harvested around 2,000 blocks of ice from the lake to create this year’s Ice Palace. The palace is around 95 feet long, 24 feet deep and 32 feet high. That’s nearly double the length of the first ice palace built in 2018.

The festivities, especially the ice palace have seen an influx in visitors to the Lakes Area – that has a large economic impact in Detroit Lakes says Kelcey Klemm, Detroit Lakes City Administrator, “We see sales up the liquor store, we see food and beverage tax sales up in February, in the middle of winter that’s just tremendous to have that type of economic impact in Detroit Lakes.”

Polar Fest is held annually in February. It was created and run by an independent, all-volunteer committee in Detroit Lakes.