City looks to ‘reimagine’ annual winter festival

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — With the 21st annual High on Ice Winter Festival steadily approaching, the City of Fort St. John is looking to reimagine the biggest city-operated event of the winter season. 

During the September 8th meeting of the City of Fort St. John council, core organizers of the city’s annual High on Ice Winter Festival presented a recap of the 2025 event as well as a proposal to revamp the 2026 iteration. 

According to staff, the Family Day weekend festival takes approximately six months of planning to execute, which prompted a presentation to council in early September. 

Following feedback gathered from the community, staff recommended a major revamp of the event, including changing the name from the High on Ice Winter Festival to Winter Fest. 

Alongside the renaming, the festival’s rebrand would see a pivot to smaller, more frequent activities throughout the event, with more community involvement and less spent on weather-dependent activities. 

Staff also proposed upgrading the ice slides, which saw 21,000 uses during the 2025 festival, by instead creating a 360-degree sliding hill, with three sides dedicated to sliding. 

According to staff, the hill would allow for sliding and tobogganing as early as December, depending on snowfall, and could be sustained for longer periods of time in warmer weather by being covered in tarps. 

Additionally, a proposal was made to expand the festival to last for the entirety of February, rather than just the Family Day long weekend. 

One of the main goals of the rebrand, according to staff, was to reduce costs by 19 per cent, and reallocate those funds towards microgrants.

“[The microgrant program] allows us to diversify what’s offered over the weekend, instead of having city staff being responsible for every single activity that’s being offered,” staff explained. 

The 2025 event cost the city approximately $338,700, and staff intend for the 2026 event to cost closer to $275,000.  

One of the steps involved with lowering the cost includes reducing the amount of ice purchased for the festival. At the 2025 event, the city spent $50,000 on two trucks of ice blocks shipped from Ontario, totalling 207 blocks. Staff recommended reducing the amount of ice for the event by half, purchasing one truck of approximately 100 ice blocks. 

While delighted by the idea of the slide hill, Councillor Sarah MacDougall voiced concerns about the proposed expanded timeline, saying she felt it could “water down” the festival. 

Councillor Trevor Bolin stated he was in favour of the name change and the proposed new sliding arrangements. 

“Slides for a decade and a half have been the draw, so I think it’s fantastic you’re focusing on that,” Bolin said. 

Mayor Lilia Hansen also commented on the reimagined festival, especially the budget adjustments and time extensions. 

“I love the idea about extending our dates and activities throughout the month,” Hansen said. 

“I’ve heard from families that are saying there [are] just so many awesome things [at previous years’ festivals], they just wish they could do it all.”

Following the presentation, the councillors voted unanimously to direct staff to continue with their proposed approach to the 2026 festival, and begin planning for Winter Fest.

The city will continue to brainstorm possible changes to the festival, and will announce more information about the 2026 Winter Fest in the coming months.