Snow Days Chicago

Do you have a heart of ice? Thaw it out for Valetine’s Day at Snow Days Chicago. From February 12 – 16 this five-day festival turns Grant Park into a winter wonderland.

This isn’t your typical hot chocolates and horse-drawn sleighs winter festival, but it will warm your heart. For instance, huskies are fur-balls of love, and did you know there are dog sledding teams in the Chicago area? Green Valley Dog Drivers has four mushing locations near Naperville. They’re bringing their team to Snow Days and will be performing dog sled demonstrations each day. The best part? You can pet the dogs when they’re done! If you’d like to see them ahead of time they’ll be at Brookfield Zoo on January 25.

As if seeing a team of huskies pulling sleds in Grant Park isn’t enough to get your heart racing, there will also be snowboarders. In downtown Chicago. A full size rail and ramp will be set up and a team from Raging Buffalo Snowboard Ski Park will be demonstrating, and they’ll be competing on Saturday.

Artists speak from the heart, and many from the Midwest and a team from Mexico will be creating sculptures from snow. They’ll begin their works of art on Wednesday and a winner will be awarded on Saturday at 3pm. You can see where the teams are from and their proposed sculptures here.

Children always have hearts of gold, but even they’ll need to warm up for awhile. There’s a tent with a storytelling corner and kids can take home crafts they’ve made. Each day features a different theme, like Valentine’s Day, Lincoln’s Birthday, President’s Day, Black History Month and Winter.

It may be a month away, but I can already feel the love.