Kiener Plaza in downtown St. Louis is getting ready to swap its summer lawn chairs for ice skates and heated igloos. Winterfest, the Gateway Arch Park Foundation's holiday tradition, returns for its 11th year on November 21, 2026, and will run through January 3, 2027, bringing skating, s'mores and a brand-new curling option back to the shadow of the Gateway Arch.
Opening day kicks off with the Winterfest 5K and an accompanying one-mile Fun Run/Walk on Saturday, November 21, according to archpark.org. The night wraps up with the Ameren Missouri Festival of Lights, which includes the lighting of The Salvation Army tree of lights, the same source notes.
Once the season is underway, ice-skating hours settle into a weekly rhythm: Thursdays and Fridays from 4 to 8 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 8 p.m., per the event's official listing. Skate rentals run $15 for adults and $10 for children ages 3 to 15, though guests who bring their own skates can hit the rink for free.
New This Year: Curling Bays and More Igloos
The biggest addition to the 2026 lineup is the Winterfest Curling Cafe, a new feature offering two curling bays for 90-minute sessions at $65 for up to four people per lane, the archpark.org event page states. Heated igloo rentals, a longtime favorite for groups looking to escape the cold, start at $100 for a 90-minute reservation.
The Gateway Arch Park Foundation is adding three new igloos for this year's run because of high demand, according to a report from ibjonline.com. The outlet also describes Winterfest as a free event meant to keep holiday programming accessible to everyone while driving foot traffic to businesses in downtown St. Louis.
Holiday Hours, Closures and a Fireworks Finale
Winterfest will largely follow its weekend-heavy schedule through the fall, but hours shift once the calendar turns toward Christmas. The event will be open from 4 to 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve, then extend to noon-to-8 p.m. daily from December 26 through January 3, per the same ibjonline.com report. Winterfest will be closed on Christmas Day, that report states.
The season closes out with a New Year's Eve celebration on Thursday, December 31, featuring a live concert from The Dirty Muggz, a DJ, fire dancers, characters and party favors, according to the archpark.org event listing. Fireworks are scheduled to start at 8 p.m. that night, capping off the 11th Winterfest run.
Winterfest is presented by Bank of America and World Wide Technology, according to explorestlouis.com, which also describes the plaza twinkling with 100,000 lights beneath the Arch each night.
For anyone hoping to book Kiener Plaza for a private gathering during the season, there's a catch: private events won't be available on Thanksgiving, November 26, or on Christmas Day, December 25, according to archpark.org. Fox 2 reported on the season's return in a story noting the festival's longtime role as a downtown holiday draw, as detailed by FOX 2.
