Grand Bend Winter Carnival

Grand Bend's once famous Winter Carnival is making a comeback this year.

Stu Saunders has been a resident of Grand Bend for over ten years, but he was a visitor to Grand Bend and the Winter Carnival for several years before he was a Grand Bend resident.

Saunders says the Grand Bend Winter Carnival started in the eighties and grew every year after that because there really wasn't much else to do in the winter in Grand Bend. He says in 2008 the Carnival attracted around 25-thousand people. He says it was run by the community and featured events like ice sculptures, snow pitch, BBQ meat cooking, waiter games, kids’ activities, and more. Eventually, it just fizzled out around 2012 or 2013.

In the winter of 2023 Saunders was having a drink with another Grand Bend resident in one of the local bars and the conversation got around to memories of the good old days with the once famous Grand Bend Winter Carnival. Saunders has been an event planner for more than thirty years and his friend has a lot of contacts in Grand Bend and between the two of them they decided they should bring the Grand Bend Winter Carnival back. The opening for the Carnival is this coming February, after hosting a preview event last February that was a huge success.

Now they're working on the grand re-opening of the Grand Bend Winter Carnival on February 13 to 16, 2026. Saunders says they have a number of events already planned for the event. "We're going to have a whole Children's Village; we'll have some events for kids at the Legion; we're going to have some musicians there for kids throughout the weekend. We'll also have musicians for adults spread out in various establishments around town, an axe-throwing contest, a chili cook-off with Hayters, a cocktail contest for the adults, and snow golf at Oakwood." Saunders says those are just some of the events they have planned. They're also hoping to bring back the snow-pitch event, but he says the challenge there is finding a ball diamond that's suitable. They're also planning snow sculptures and a variety of contests around town for kids and adults.

Saunders says they do have a web page but they don't have a lot of information posted on it at this point. The web page is www.grandbendwintercarnival.ca and they hope to start posting information over December and January. He says this year's event will be the start of what they hope will be something they can build on and hopefully bring it back to its former glory. Follow them on Facebook for updates.