Preliminary numbers for revamped Winter Fest 2026 revealed

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The City of Fort St. John has revealed its preliminary numbers to assess the success of the revamped Winter Fest 2026.  

The month-long Winter Fest 2026 , hosted by the city, ended on February 28th. 

Ryan Harvey, communications manager for the City of Fort St. John, told Energeticcity.ca: “[While the] final totals are still being finalized, the budget [for Winter Fest 2026] was $267,000 in expenses [and] $110,000 in revenues.” 

He said the overall “informal” reaction to the fest was positive, saying activities like the 360 MNP Slide Hill were “well used” and “well liked.”  

During the Family Day weekend last year – High on Ice Winter Festival 2025 – the ice slide was used 21, 072 times over the course of three days. 

However, this year, a new record was set. The slide was used 27, 253 between February 13th and 16th. 

“That is obviously with Mother Nature cooperating on that front, having it be able to stay up,” he said.

According to a Facebook post uploaded to the City of Fort St John Recreation’s page, Monica Jacquard had the closest guess of 26,872, which is 381 rides fewer than the actual number 

As part of Winter Fest 2026, the city had once again invited professional ice carvers to showcase their masterpieces, but the shift in weather over Family Day weekend put a bit of a “damper” on the event, Harvey said.

“The warm temperatures made some of the ice carving pieces a little bit more challenging…but there were still lots of people out at the park there to experience it all,” he noted. 

Also, the city had issued microgrants of up to $18,000 in order to support independently organized Winter Fest activities, which included the Winter Carnival hosted by the School District 60 Band. 

Harvey said: “The microgrant program from the businesses was well received, and the community enjoyed a lot of those pieces they were offering. 

“So, really excited to see how we can continue to grow that portion of Winter Fest in the future.”

The city will launch a survey to gauge what the community wants for the next year, said Harvey. 

“[The city is] really excited to see what the feedback is from the community, and then we’ll start to apply [the feedback] for next year’s edition,” he added. “I certainly think there’s lots of things we do differently. We have had lots of great successes but [this] was the first year that we went to a month-long festival.” 

He said: “So, on any of our projects, we’re always looking to see how we can do them better next year…so certainly some opportunities for us to continue to improve the offering for the community.”