On Friday evening, Nov. 20, Lake Street in Wayzata fills up with horse-drawn wagon rides, llamas, music and a parade of lights led by local fire departments, followed by the town lighting. The water beside it will still be open. Over the next month, the busiest winter dates around Lake Minnetonka all happen along that shoreline, on pavement. The 2026–27 season is the first one in years where that's simply the plan.
Light Up the Lake Moved to the Friday Before Thanksgiving
Light Up the Lake is Friday, Nov. 20, from 5 to 7 p.m. on Lake Street. The organizers point out that this is one week earlier than usual. It falls on the Friday before Thanksgiving this year, not the Friday after. If your family plans around the usual date, it now lands on a regular weeknight-into-weekend, not the holiday weekend.
The evening doubles as a donation drive. IOCP is running a food drive on the Panoway, and there's a Toys for Tots collection, so bring a non-perishable food item and a toy.
The earlier date also clears the way for Excelsior. Thanksgiving is Nov. 26, and Excelsior's biggest holiday weekend starts the next morning.
Excelsior's Season Runs Down Water Street
The Excelsior-Lake Minnetonka Chamber's Celebrating the Season schedule starts with Christmas in Excelsior on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 27–28, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Excelsior Lions Club presents it. The chamber's event listing calls it a free, two-day holiday market on historic Water Street, with reindeer, llamas, carolers, Santa, music and food vendors.
After that weekend, the schedule spreads out across December:
- Dec. 5 and Dec. 12, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.: Photos with Santa at Excelsior Masonic Lodge #113, 249 Water Street.
- Dec. 19: Deck the Halls, the downtown shopping event.
Between Wayzata and Excelsior, that's five dated events in a month, and none of them needs the lake to freeze. That matters more than it used to. During the 2023–24 winter, KARE 11 reported that Lake Minnetonka wasn't declared iced in until Jan. 13, a record 11 days later than the previous record. Every holiday date on this year's list comes well before that.
Why the Klondike Stopped Waiting for Better Winters
For years, Excelsior's winter centerpiece was out on the ice. On April 1, 2026, the board of the Lake Minnetonka Klondike Dog Derby announced it was retiring the race. The volunteer group explained why in its official statement:
"The race requires two weather conditions that have become increasingly unreliable: solid lake ice and adequate snow cover. In recent years, achieving both has been, at best, a fifty-fifty chance, leaving us with an unsafe course on which to run a sled dog race."
The board said the race had gone three straight years without running for safety reasons and had run only three times in the past seven years. KSTP reported that the 2024, 2025 and 2026 races were all cancelled. The 2026 race had already been pushed from Feb. 14 to March 7 before it was called off.
The cost wasn't only race day. The statement describes months of permitting, course preparation, fundraising and recruiting by an all-volunteer group, all of which got shelved whenever conditions fell short. The race also ran an education program that introduced thousands of local students to sled dog racing, and it supported Can Do Canines, Adopt a Husky, ICA Food Shelf and Cast Outdoors. An event that needed both ice and snow at the same time on the same weekend had the hardest bet to win on this lake.
Thirteen Inches of Ice, and Still No Tournament
Snow wasn't the only problem. Lake Minnetonka's other big winter event has shown that thick ice alone isn't enough either.
In January 2024, the chamber cancelled the Wayzata Chilly Open, which had been set for Feb. 10. Wayzata.com's report said organizers had measured 13 inches of solid ice at the usual site. Then a pressure ridge formed at the access point, leaving 4 to 6 inches of open water on top of the ice. A backup plan near the Wayzata Sailing lake access wasn't approved at that week's City Council meeting. A city dredging project near the beach was also about to pump lagoon water onto the lake. Organizers worked through eight different scenarios before calling it off.
In other words, the ice itself was thick enough, and the tournament was still cancelled because of one spot near the shore. The same report noted that the event is a major fundraiser for the chamber, so a cancellation hits more than golfers' weekend plans.
The Chilly Open came back the next two years. The Sun Sailor ran photos of golfers on the ice at the '80s-themed 2025 event. It also covered the Feb. 7, 2026 tournament on Wayzata Bay, which had an SNL theme.
The ice records explain why each season is a fresh bet. The Hennepin County Sheriff's Water Patrol lists the official 2025 ice-out as March 29, 2025. The Star Tribune reported that the 2026 ice-out was declared April 3, ten days before the April 13 median it cited from DNR data. Combined with a record-late Jan. 13 ice-in in 2023–24, some recent seasons on the ice have been short.
Feb. 6 Is the Lake's One Big Day on the Ice
The 2027 Wayzata Chilly Open is Saturday, Feb. 6, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. It's the 42nd year. The chamber describes four 9-hole courses plowed out on Wayzata Bay, where more than 2,000 golfers hit and putt tennis balls with golf clubs and hockey sticks. There's also a chili cook-off, Snowga, snowkiting and a heated 19th Hole tent in the 6Smith parking lot at 294 Grove Ln E. Golfer tickets go on sale Dec. 1. The official Chilly Open site lists tee times at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m.
Here's the whole season in one place, with what each event depends on:
| Date | Event | Where | Depends on lake ice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri., Nov. 20 | Light Up the Lake | Lake Street, Wayzata | No |
| Nov. 27–28 | Christmas in Excelsior | Water Street, Excelsior | No |
| Dec. 5 and Dec. 12 | Photos with Santa | Excelsior Masonic Lodge #113, 249 Water St. | No |
| Dec. 19 | Deck the Halls | Downtown Excelsior | No |
| Sat., Feb. 6, 2027 | Wayzata Chilly Open | Wayzata Bay, with the 19th Hole tent at 294 Grove Ln E | Yes |
Four of the five dates are fixed and happen on land. The fifth is the only one that depends on the bay, and as 2024 showed, conditions at the access point can decide it even when the ice is thick. Signing up on Dec. 1 means committing ten weeks ahead to a day that winter still has a say in. The holiday weekends on Lake Street and Water Street don't carry that uncertainty.
Lynn follows the lake's calendar the same way she follows its market, bay by bay and season by season. If you're thinking about how life on Lake Minnetonka changes from one winter to the next, or what that means for a home near Wayzata Bay or downtown Excelsior, Lynn Reiners would be glad to talk it through. Schedule your personal market consultation with Lynn.
