GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A popular winter festival is back — "World of Winter" kicks off Friday throughout the city of Grand Rapids with over 150 free events, activities and outdoor art installations.
Festival organizers say it's the largest winter festival in the United States and provides and opportunity for families and adults to enjoy Michigan's winter.
There are several events planned over the festival's two months in the downtown area, but with the large winter storm headed for West Michigan, one of the opening weekend's activities has already been postponed.
The "Luminary Light Night Parade" scheduled for Friday, January 12 has been postponed due to the large amounts of snow and heavy winds expected.
HAPPENING TODAY: World of Winter kicks off today thru March 10th in downtown #GrandRapids.
There are 20-30 art installations throughout the area and tons of events for people to partake in. @FOX17 pic.twitter.com/f5ykbqZVaO
— Lauren Kummer (@LaurenKummerTV) January 12, 2024
Festival organizers say they have been and will continue to monitor conditions ahead of Saturday's "Fire & Ice" event.
"We'll be keeping an eye on the weather just like everybody else is, making sure that we can still hold the event safely," said Bill Kirk with Downtown GR Inc. "If we do unfortunately have to cancel, which we're hoping not to, but if we do, we'll announce it on our social media channels and on the WorldOfWinterGR.com website. As it looks right now, if the winds stay reasonable and the temps stay okay, we'll keep doing the event tonight," he said.
Downtown GR Inc. tells FOX 17 decisions to postpone or cancel an event are always made day-of.
Even with potential postponements or cancellations, most of the art installations will still be open to the public for viewing. The various pieces come from all over the world including Canada, Belgium and even Australia.
To learn more about "World of Winter", to look at the map of art installations or to find a list of scheduled events, click here.
