University of Okoboji Winter Games 2025 in Midwest

The University of Okoboji Winter Games is an annual festival that occurs every January across the Iowa Great Lakes Area in NW Iowa. The annual event draws about 10,000 people from all over Midwest. A fun winter weekend is full of indoor and outdoor competitions for all ages and activities like a bonfire on the ice, bowling on the ice, dog sled, snowmobile races, Freeze Your Fanny Bike Ride, and a 5K/10K Road Race. Broomball, softball, Winter Follies Talent Show, Burning of the Greens, fireworks, and much more is going to make Iowa winter everything but gloomy! Day fun continues with night bars, and pub crawls.

The first University of Okoboji Winter Games were held in 1981 as a small broomball tournament, and since then has become an annual tradition drawing thousands of people to the Iowa Great Lakes Area in North West Iowa every winter. Sledding, ice climbing, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing—many people have tried it for the first time in Okoboji.