Celebrating our Winter City Roots
At Platinum Investments we are truly excited to be based right here in Edmonton. While our connection to the Marriott and Hilton brand gives us a global reach, being locally owned is a matter of pride for us!
One of our favourite parts of being here in Edmonton is the way our city embraces winter. If you’re planning your booking or event in our chillier months, bundle up and discover everything we have to offer to help you and your guests fall in love with our winter city!
Deep Freeze Festival
If Edmonton is defined mostly by our winters, it is closely followed by multiculturalism. Deep Freeze Festival celebrates both in the Alberta Avenue neighbourhood bringing together Ukrainian, Franco-Albertan, Franco-African, First Nations and South American cultures.There’s everything from ice carving and traditional dancing to street hockey and deep freezer races. That’s right, deep freezers are put on skis and raced down a track. It’s a spectacle worth watching between hitting up the many food trucks and the community roast!
Ice Castles
Few things make Edmonton feel like a winter wonderland quite like the Ice Castles at Hawrelak park. The massive structure takes up an acre of the famous Edmonton River Valley and stretches higher up than you would expect. Visit during daylight and watch the sunlight glitter through the ice, or visit at night to watch the spectacular structure light up in bright colours. After walking and taking pictures through the castle, rent some skates and take a whirl on the frozen pond right next door! Tickets can be bought online.
Ice on Whyte Festival
There’s ice sculptures, and then there’s ice masterpieces. Welcoming teams from Mexico, USA, Russia and of course Canada, Ice on Whyte pits the top ice carvers in a magical contest to create massive structures from ice blocks. Wander through either January 25-28 or February 1-4 to watch the structures come alive and plan to stay a while to enjoy the giant ice slide, whiskey stew-off, or the Ice Bar featuring locally brewed beers, plus cocktails from Hansen and Rig Hand Distillery. Tickets are available online and at the door.
Edmonton Oilers & Edmonton Oil Kings Hockey
No winter trip to Edmonton is complete without hockey. From Wayne Gretzky in the 80s to Connor McDavid now, this city has a deep history with the sport. Explore our new stadium, Rogers Place, home to both the NHL Oilers and the WHL Oil Kings. Surrounded by award winning restaurants, bars, and the Grand Villa Casino, a night out at the Ice District is so much more than just “catching the game.” Whether you’re looking for a couple seats for impress a client or a box to take the team out, check out the Oilers & Oil Kings schedule for a wild night out in Downtown Edmonton.
Red Bull Crashed Ice
They say you have to be a certain kind of crazy to live in Edmonton, especially in the cold winters. Check out just how crazy the city gets when Red Bull Crashed Ice returns to the city on March 9th & 10th. Tickets start at just $5 to watch extreme sports athletes barrel down an ice course at speeds up to to 80 km an hour! The race track sits in the heart of the River Valley beside the Shaw Conference Centre downtown and there are multiple viewpoints. The event is a season finale featuring the top racers from around the world, and the only Red Bull Crashed Ice event in Canada this year.