Winter Blast returns in 2020 for one jam-packed weekend downtown

For the 15th consecutive year, Winter Blast is coming to downtown Detroit. Taking place the weekend of February 7-9, the activity-filled festival at Campus Martius is once again returning to its one-week format.

Last year, the festival took place across four weekends.

Officially called the Quicken Loans Winter Blast Weekend presented by Soaring Eagle, the free event will have a variety of family-friendly activities, including a winter slide, ice skating, ice carving, and a ski area where visitors can get fitted for gear and learn the basics of skiing.

There will also be a number of “roasting” stations for festivalgoers to warm up or purchase s’more kits. A variety of food trucks will also be on site, and local musicians will be playing throughout the weekend. Winter Blast will release the list of vendors and musicians at a later date.

“Since the festival’s 2006 inception for Super Bowl XL, the event has grown in popularity, experiencing some of its best attendance ever in 2017 and 2018,” Jon Witz, Quicken Loans Winter Blast Weekend festival producer, said in a release. “We want to continue this momentum and are excited to return Winter Blast to its original and wildly popular one weekend format.”

Witz told Crain’s Detroit Business that attendance was around 90,000 in 2018, but dipped in 2019 despite the longer format. Tickets were also $3 last year.