Medina Ice Festival: A 30+ Year Old Winter Tradition
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Medina is a small community located about 30 minutes outside of Cleveland. It’s home to a beautiful historic Victorian downtown with a lovely gazebo as the centerpiece. It’s a great place to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city for a few hours. Out of all the small towns I’ve explored since moving to the Cleveland metro, this is the one I come back to most often. Most notably, it is known for being home to Castle Noel, the country’s largest Christmas attraction. I come here mostly to browse around the local shops, dine at local restaurants, and enjoy the numerous events taking place year-round. One of the most popular annual events is the Medina Ice Festival, now in its’ 32nd year.
It’s nice to have a few events to look forward to in order to break up the monotony of a long, cold, gloomy, and oftentimes, very snowy winter season. For this event, the historic downtown square is decorated with over 100 unique ice sculptures. This is a full weekend event with ice carving demos on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. There are live carving contests and a Fire and Ice tower.
Elegant Ice Creations puts on this event. Their team includes a talented range of artists including 3 who have won the World Ice Art Championships. They are a green company, use no chemicals, and practice environmentally safety procedures.
It would be really cool to order a specialty ice creation for a wedding, birthday, anniversary, or any other special event. You can learn more about this company on their website. Or better yet, come see their work at Medina’s best winter event!
Schedule of Events
The event is always held on the 3rd weekend of February each year.
Friday February 20th: Speed carvings at 5:30, 6:00, and 6:30pm
Saturday Febraury 21st: Individual ice carving competition, from 1:00 to 5:00pm, Fire and Ice Tower at 7:00pm
Sunday February 22nd: Team ice carving competiong, Noon to 5:00pm
Events are subject to change each year. Check the official website for details.
Ice carving is an extremely challenging sport. It was a fun time watching these masters at work. To be able to transform a 300 pound block of ice into a work of art is truly an accomplishment. They use various chainsaws and chisels and it requires hours of time plus immense attention to detail. I highly recommend timing your visit to see some of the artists at work. Otherwise, it’s still cool to walk around and view the completed pieces. Here’s is a brief tour of some of the best creations from the 2026 event.
Along with the carvings, you will be able to enjoy a variety of vendors. I saw hot cocoa and funnel cake stands as well as a few specialty shops selling all sorts of trinquets like birdhouses. This year’s fest was super cold and windy, so a great time to splurge on a hot cup of cocoa.
*Note that the sculptures stay up until they melt, so get out here while you can!
Downtown Medina
This is one of my favorite small town Main Streets in the region. It’s got a lot of Victorian charm and is a nice place to walk around no matter the time of year. Lots of local restaurants and treat shops to enjoy. I usually pop in a local coffeehouse called Cool Beans. There are a number of independent shops, a bookshop, and a cool old time card shop (I found all sorts of old time baseball and basketball cards here). It’s truly a step back in time.
My favorite stores are:
- Operation Fandom (specializing in nostalgic media collectors items, pop figures)
- Medina Sports Cards (huge selection of sports card including many vintage finds)
- Blackbird Records (specializing in new and used vinyl. I love the funky setup)
- Lily Nicolas Shop (specializing in household decor and seasonal apparel and knick knacks)
- One Lucky Dog (amazing dog bakery with a gorgeous selection of collars)
- Somethin’s Poppin (gourmet popcorn shop)
- Polish Pottery (specializing in hand painted stoneware)
Relaxing at Cool Beans: A cozy local coffeehouse
They serve delicious French and house roast coffee, a full lineup of espresso based drinks, pastries, and even a few breakfast entrees (I recommend the breakfast burrito). Also, if you need a cozy winter warm up, try one of their hot cocoa flights. They serve both specialty coffee and cocoa flights but neither is technically on the menu. They also serve a cozy little soup flights where you get to try 4 specials. I haven’t had a chance to try it yet but looks delicious! On one negative note, it’s quite disappointing that they only serve their drinks in paper cups.
For our flight, we enjoyed a delicious mix of: English toffee, cookie dough, salted caramel, and peanut butter flavored cocoas. A bit overpriced at 10 bucks, but a nice add on activity to justify the drive over for the event.
Where to eat
While you are in town, I recommend strolling the local shops and supporting a local restaurant. I really like Dominic’s Italian. It’s the perfect choice on a cold winter day. They serve pasta and pizza, so the perfect comforting high carb fare on a chilly day. I really love the Baked Cavatelli and Cheese ravioli. Bonus points for the complimentary salad and bread which is quite unusual in this day and age. The vibe is comfy and casual – overall just a great place to enjoy lunch.
More to do
Medina is just a quick drive from all the wonderful big city attractions in Cleveland and the beautiful lake Erie beaches. Check out my Ohio Travel Guide for my bucket list recommendations.
