Duluth Winter Village returns to Glensheen

Duluth Winter Village. Photo courtesy Three Irish Girls Photography

Last year, wooden cabins adorned in Christmas lights and garland lined the path at Glensheen as people popped in and out of them buying gifts for the holiday season. They pulled their coats closer for warmth but endured to support local businesses.

Now on Dec 7 to 8, people in Duluth will have the opportunity to do that again at Duluth Winter Village.

From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, Duluth Winter Village, organized by Duluth Loves Local, will once again be held at Glensheen. With about 40 local vendors, visitors can expect shopping, food and beverages, a campfire by Lake Superior, free s’mores, live animals and local singers.

People petting the live animals at Duluth Winter Village. Photo courtesy Three Irish Girls Photography

After the Duluth area received close to 22 inches of snow over Thanksgiving weekend, Glensheen closed their doors to the public to dig themselves out. But, they opened their estate back up on Dec. 3 to continue doing tours and their big holiday event.

“Winter Village is still on as planned,” Jane Pederson, marketing manager for Glensheen, said. “The event has not been affected by the storm.”

This is the fourth year of the holiday event and was started by Duluth Loves Local to act as a way to connect the community to local businesses during the holidays.

“We pretty started [this event] as a way to help local businesses,” Mallory Moore, who is part of the Duluth Loves Local team, said. “So you can go out and drink coffee, take a picture and post about it…. With that, we wanted a way to be able to shop local during the holiday season.”

According to Moore, Duluth is a very big city, so it can be difficult to discover all the local businesses the area has to offer.

“But, with this, we’ve got many in one location for a weekend,” Moore said. “If we can have alcohol, beer, hot chocolate and food for people, then maybe they would want to come down and support local businesses and enjoy Duluth in the winter, which is sometimes hard to do.”

This has certainly worked, since the event brought in over 20,000 people last year, according to Pederson.

Where to park

Parking will be extremely limited at Glensheen, so people attending the holiday event are encouraged to park in Lot B at UMD, next to the new HCAMS building, and take the free shuttle to and from Glensheen.

More information can be found on Duluth Winter Village’s website.