The Northern Lights Festival will run the first three weekends of December at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester.

A winter festival coming to Minnesota and being hailed as the "North's Largest Indoor Light Park" is less than two months away. The Northern Lights Festival is the brain-child of Mitch Reaume. He's been dreaming of creating a full-blown winter festival and putting a city on the map as a winter festival destination for years. With the help of some major partners -- including Experience Rochester and the Mayo Civic Center -- that pipedream will finally become a reality this December.

Proudly anchored at Rochester's Mayo Civic Center, the three-weekend Northern Lights Festival will be a fully immersive winter experience for all ages. Highlights include food and drink, a 25,000+ sq. ft. light park, shopping in the Mini MN Christmas Market, photo ops and make-and-take experiences. Oh, the north's largest inflatable igloo.

The Mini MN Christmas Market will feature 8-12 local brands to shop and support. The full MN Christmas Market with over 50 Minnesota small businesses will be set up in Rochester on November 13 (click here to see additional dates and locations in Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth). Seven percent of all shopping proceeds will go towards Northern Lights Festival's charity for the year, The Reel Hope Project which creates videos for Minnesota kids waiting to be adopted.

On December 17th Platinum Recording Artist and Songwriter Michael Shynes will be joined by Violin Virtuoso David Gerald Sutton for a night of Christmas songs. Tickets for the Northern Lights Festival and Michael Shynes/David Gerald Sutton concert will be required and available to purchase here.