This week’s polar vortex may have brought a bitter cold into this part of the Niagara peninsula, but for the folks who were out on Queen Street this past weekend, it was all about revelling in everything that can make winter a delight.
The annual Icewine Festival made its return to Niagara-on-the-Lake for its 30th year, turning the town’s downtown core into a cozy village for warming up, enjoying hot food and desserts from local vendors and sampling cocktails and some of NOTL’s most popular icewines — with free entry.
This was the first of what is a two-weekend affair, starting Jan. 18 and 19, and continuing this weekend on Jan. 25 and 26.
The festival got to a wet start on Saturday with pouring rain for a portion of the day, but Sunday welcomed more scenic snowy weather.
“It was snowy and beautiful and there were a lot of people around,” said Kathy Weiss, executive director of the NOTL Chamber of Commerce, which puts on the annual Icewine Village in Old Town.
More than a dozen wineries were on Queen Street serving up glasses of their house icewines, vintages from previous seasons — this year’s harvest of icewine grapes has already been completed and NOTL wineries will be releasing 2025’s vintages later this year.
Guests of all ages lined up for hot grilled cheese sandwiches from Cheese Secrets, tried pulled pork parfaits made in martini glasses, sampled cocktails as part of a competition outside the old Court House and had traditional maple taffy.
To beat the cold, the village had bonfires and warming bubbles fashioned to look like snowglobes for festivalgoers to warm up in, while others enjoyed watching master carvers make festive ice sculptures.