The 2024 Minnesota Ice Festival has been canceled. Organizers said that unseasonably warm weather raises safety concerns for both ice construction workers and visitors.

The festival, which would have run from Jan. 5 to Feb. 11 at Viking Lakes in Eagan, was set to have included the world’s largest ice maze, plus other structures and sculptures. These can become hazardous if temperatures are too warm, organizers said.

If you already have tickets, the festival is issuing automatic refunds that should be processed within seven to 10 days.

“We were really looking forward to celebrating the beautiful Minnesota winter with everyone, but the weather hasn’t cooperated, and we won’t be able to deliver the experience we had hoped for,” said Robbie Harrell, the CEO of ice company Minnesota Ice, in a statement Wednesday. The festival plans to return next year, he said.

As for the ice itself, it has already been delivered to the festival site in Eagan, so organizers are keeping it under insulation for the time being. The current plan is to use the ice — or what’s left of it— for another public celebration later in the winter, assuming temps cool down enough.

The ice festival is not the only casualty of hotter-than-expected weather this year. The Twin Cities Marathon was canceled this fall amid an October heat wave that smashed all-time high temperature records for the state. And across the U.S., the rate of climate change over the past five decades has been significantly above the world average.

Now, meteorologists say we’re on track for a “brown Christmas” this year, a stark contrast to the eight inches of snow that descended on the Twin Cities this time last year. These snowless holiday seasons are becoming common: Since 1899, only 36 seasons have been “brown Christmases,” but these include 2015, 2018 and 2021.

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