The North's Largest Indoor Light Park

Drawing its inspiration from the wintery North, the Northern Lights Festival is Minnesota's newest holiday experience, proudly anchored at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester.

The Northern Lights Festival has something for people of all ages to enjoy; chances to eat and drink, enjoy our 25,000+ sq. ft. light park, shop in the Mini MN Christmas Market, countless photo ops, make-and-take experiences and more.

Hours (December 2-18):

Fridays: 11am-8pm

Saturdays: 10am-8pm

Sundays: 11am-6pm

Note: Santa makes appearances on Sundays from 11:30-2:30!

The Northern Lights Festival is put on by Fight For Something and made possible through the support of Experience Rochester.

The beauty of it all: A portion of all proceeds are invested into organizations fighting for kids in Minnesota. We’re thrilled to focus the charitable efforts of the Northern Lights Festival into a fund we’re calling “Santa’s College Fund” in partnership with local non-profit, The Urban Village. Santa’s College Fund is a scholarship that exists to remove financial barriers to higher education faced by many of our refugee neighbors living right here in Minnesota through scholarships

The Light Park

At the center of the Northern Lights Festival is our one-of-a-kind 25,000+ sq. ft. indoor light park. Our light park is a self-guided experience full of photo ops, immersive experiences, and interactive elements.

Rumor has it that Santa might even make an appearance or two.

Buy Tickets Here

Mini MN Christmas Market

The Mini MN Christmas Market will be a chance for our guests to eat & drink while shopping from 8-12 of our favorite local brands. We've pulled together some of the best products you can buy while supporting Minnesota small businesses. Want to experience the full-blown MN Christmas Market with all 60+ of our favorite local brands? Well you're in luck... It will be in Rochester just a few weeks earlier on November 12 & 13!

Just like at the MN Christmas Market, 7% of all shopping will go towards our charity for the year, Santa's College Fund.

*Access to the Mini MN Christmas Market is included in the Light Park ticket

The Northern Lights Festival Mini Market is proudly sponsored by Schuler Shoes.

List of Brands You Can Shop Here

Winter Storm Yoga

Enjoy a one-of-a-kind yoga experience inside of the Northern Lights Festival Light Park before it opens! Classes take place within the immersive winter storm exhibit of the light park.  

This yoga class is a non-judgmental and welcoming space for people of all skill levels. Whether you are brand new to yoga, or have a lifelong practice, you are welcome to join us for this class.

What you get:

+ 1 hour yoga class w/ Rochester's own, Anthony Williams, of Radiant Sol Yoga

+ Cup of coffee from Emiliani Coffee at the end of class to start your day off right

+ Admission to the Northern Lights Festival Light Park

Classes are only available December 2 & 3.

Reserve Your Class Here

Holiday Light Trolley

We are proud to be partnering with our friends over at the Rochester Trolley & Tour Co., Rochester's premier trolley service and the hub for holiday light tour trolley rides. Every Friday & Saturday, they'll be launching their public holiday light tours from the Mayo Civic Center, to make it easy to double up on light shows for a night full of winter fun. When we were thinking of ways to make an evening at the Northern Lights Festival special, we couldn't think of a better fit than to team up with Rochester Trolley and their long loved holiday light tours.

Want to make a night of it? We can't think of a better winter night than one of our 90 minute holiday light tours on a trolley, combined with a stroll through our immersive light park.

Buy Trolley + Light Park Tickets

A special thanks...

We've dreamed of starting a full-blown winter festival for years and putting a city on the map as a winter capital. We've also known it would remain a pipe dream until the right partners and opportunities came along.

We are so thankful for the opportunity to have built this alongside the good folks at Experience Rochester and the entire team at the Mayo Civic Center. Without your big dreams and belief that the city of Rochester is ready for an event of this scale, none of this would have been possible.

- Mitch & the team at Fight For Something

Santa Sundays

Every Sunday Santa will be here for photos with kids in his cabin from 11:30-2:30pm!