McCall Winter Carnival set for big changes in near future. Here’s what to expect, Idaho

As the temperatures sink, leaves drop off the trees and fall slowly turns to winter, many Idahoans map out their winter game plan. For a lot of people, that includes the 100-mile drive from Boise to the McCall Winter Carnival in January and February.

This winter’s 10-day carnival is set for Jan. 27 to Feb. 5, 2023, and will have a “Fairy Tales, Folk Tales and Tall Tales” theme, guaranteeing magical snow sculptures that characterize the carnival each year.

But 2023 will be the last year that the carnival lasts 10 days. The McCall Chamber of Commerce has announced that from 2024 onward, the carnival will span only one weekend and occur at the end of February.

For 2024, that means Feb. 23-25.

“Having a year with no Carnival gave us tremendous insights into the role Carnival plays in our winter economy,” Chamber spokesperson McKenzie Kraemer said in a news release, referencing 2021, when the carnival was canceled because of COVID-19.

“It became clear that while Carnival is, for some, a treasured tradition, our local winter economy no longer relies on it,” Kraemer continued, “and it may actually be a detriment to our local businesses to have it occupy two weekends during the peak of snow season.”

The McCall Chamber decided to shorten the carnival after reviewing lodging tax collections between fiscal years 2020 and 2021 — the latter year being when the carnival was canceled — and then fiscal years 2021 and 2022.

January and February lodging tax collections increased by 22.66% between fiscal years 2020 and 2021, according to the Chamber, and only 3.7% between 2021 and 2022, when the carnival returned.

Since 2013, lodging tax collections in McCall have more than tripled during the months of January and February, increasing by 201.5%.

The Chamber also surveyed McCall-area businesses at the end of the 2021 winter season and found that:

82.5% of business owners said canceling the Winter Carnival had no impact on their business.
80% reported that business was up during the year with no carnival.
70% of business owners supported shortening the carnival or moving it to later in the season.

The Chamber said the event traditionally brings more than 60,000 visitors to the 3,500-person town.

“Because the crowds have swelled to such unmanageable numbers, many business owners, including myself, have expressed concern over whether Winter Carnival has outlived its usefulness,” said Cori Rice, who owns two retail stores in downtown McCall, in the news release. “Additionally, with staffing shortages that all businesses are experiencing, recruiting staff to commit to a 10-day stretch of chaos has been problematic, if not impossible.”

Many of the carnival’s favorite activities, such as the Torchlight Parade, snow sculpture contest and evening fireworks, will remain within the new three-day format. Other community events that typically happen around carnival time will be given the option to move to the new carnival dates or schedule the events when lodging and other services are more available.

McCall is a great destination for Treasure Valley residents anytime of year. The annual Winter Carnival always draws a crowd.

Organizer Jerry Wortley said the Idaho Sled Dog Challenge will continue to be held the last week of January or early February.

“We host a weeklong event, and now, if people come up to the race, there might be hotels available that were all filled up during Winter Carnival,” Wortley said in the news release.

History of the Winter Carnival

The McCall Winter Carnival began in 1965 but was inspired by the Payette Lake Winter Games, which lasted from 1924 to 1941. The winter games included dog and snowshoe racing, horse skijoring and tug-o-war, and would attract up to 2,000 people to McCall.

But as organized clubs and permanent winter sports facilities began to grow, along with a crackdown on gambling across the state, the winter games faded.

The Winter Carnival was born from the ashes of the winter games and used to promote the newly opened Brundage Mountain Resort. The first Winter Carnival was a two-day event, and since then, it has grown in popularity to the 10-day event that Idahoans have come to know.

But the carnival is now ready to return to its roots and limit itself to one weekend.

“We are extremely pleased the Chamber is listening to the businesses of McCall concerning Winter Carnival,” said Cosette Martineau, owner of My Father’s Place restaurant in McCall. “We support the changes that they are making. We are looking forward to the new traditions to be made.”