On September 28, the Humboldt County Fair Association board voted to spend an estimated $29,125 to rent a chiller for the ice rink. The same board then told staff to go ahead with building a "Bunny Slope" paid for with donations. The North Coast Journal reported both votes on the same night it reported that the 2026 fair's paid attendance fell by about 1,000 tickets.
The two decisions are connected. The fairgrounds on 5th Street can no longer cover its year from ten days in August. Winter is now part of the plan, and that changes Ferndale's holiday calendar. Main Street's big nights fall in December this year, starting with Hospitality Night on December 4. The season itself starts three weeks earlier, on Friday, November 13, when real ice goes back down at the fairgrounds.
A fair that used to pay its bills in ten days
In February 2025, the North Coast Journal described a Fair Association that had long relied on its 10-day summer fair to pay the bills for the other 355 days of the year. At the time, its Christmas and Halloween events were still new and small.
Then the horse racing ended. In June 2025, the California Horse Racing Board turned down the association's last request for racing dates at that year's fair, ending a tradition more than a century old. According to the Times-Standard, the shorter seven-day fair saw admissions fall 25%. The association's own report showed total income down $1.4 million from the third quarter of 2024 to the same quarter of 2025, and about $1 million of that was lost racing revenue.
CEO Moira Kenny told the paper the association was putting its effort into bigger alternative events, the expanded Winter Fair among them. She said a jump in ice rink sponsorships had helped make up for sponsorship money the summer fair lost. "Attempting growth in this area is imperative for the year-round success of the fairgrounds," she said.
Board president Andy Titus put it more modestly in the same story. He said events outside the summer fair had so far made nowhere near what racing brought in, and that they mostly shrank a month's net loss.
The numbers for 2026 explain why the board kept investing anyway. The Journal reported that admission revenue at the 2026 fair dropped about $14,310, or about 6% below 2025. Kenny estimated a $100,000 profit for the whole event, while the association's accountants showed expenses running about $200,000 ahead of income through the end of July. The same article calls the ice rink "part of the now-annual Winter Fair activities."
The rink started in Fortuna and went dark for five seasons
The Humboldt Ice Rink didn't start in Ferndale. Lost Coast Outpost covered its first opening on December 4, 2015, at Newburg Park in Fortuna. Organizers included Dianna Rios, then executive director of Fortuna's Business Improvement District, and volunteer Shawn Hobbs.
After three holiday seasons, the Fortuna volunteer group stepped back. In November 2018 the Times-Standard reported that the Fair Association was taking the rink over and moving it into Belotti Hall, with general manager Richard Conway handling the move. Local service clubs had staffed those early seasons. The paper said the first three years drew about 15,000 visitors a year and brought in $20,000 to $30,000, which went to the community groups that took part.
Then the rink went dark. When the fairgrounds announced its return in November 2025, the press release published by Lost Coast Outpost said the rink had last opened in 2019. That 2025 season also launched the "Winter Fair" name. It folded the rink together with the Sparkling Light Spectacular and the Holiday of Trees & Bazaar, both of which had run at the fairgrounds in 2024. The release said all Winter Fair proceeds go to preserving and improving the fairgrounds.
So the rink began as a downtown project run by volunteers, became a fundraiser for community groups, and now helps keep the fairgrounds running.
What changed between the 2025 and 2026 seasons
If you skated last year, a few things work differently this time.
| 2025 Winter Fair | 2026 Winter Fair | |
|---|---|---|
| Rink season | Nov. 15 to Jan. 11 | Nov. 13 to Jan. 10 |
| Rink hours | Every day, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. | 3 to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekends, closed Mondays |
| Light display | Sparkling Light Spectacular, driving and walking tours | Winter Wanderland, described as a walking trail |
| Bazaar | Holiday of Trees & Bazaar, Nov. 28 to 30 | Holiday of Trees Bazaar, Nov. 27 to 29 |
| Sledding | None | Polar Bunny Hill, new this year |
Weekday afternoons are where the hours change most. Last year you could skate on a Monday morning. This year the rink stays closed until 3 p.m. on weekdays and doesn't open at all on Mondays. During Thanksgiving week and winter break, weekday hours run longer, from noon to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Friday. Skating costs $20 for ages 13 and up and $15 for ages 12 and under, and skate rental is included.
Winter Wanderland is the new name for the Sparkling Light Spectacular. It costs $5 per person and runs 6 to 9 p.m. It's closed Mondays and Tuesdays, with one exception: it opens on Tuesday, December 22. Volunteers built last year's display. The 2025 release named the Rotary, the Lions Club, the volunteer fire department, and local businesses including Redfront and Buttercup Coffee, and said the display was twice as long as the 2024 version.
The newest piece is Polar Bunny Hill, the sledding area the board approved in September. The fair calls it all-ages sledding from November 13 through January 10, closed Mondays. As of the Visit Ferndale listing updated October 23, its hours were still listed as to be determined. Call the fair office at 707-786-9511 before you head over with kids.
The full calendar, 5th Street and Main Street together
With the fairgrounds open from mid-November, the Main Street events fall inside a season that's already running. Here is everything in date order.
- Friday, Nov. 13: The Humboldt Ice Rink and Polar Bunny Hill open at the fairgrounds, 1250 5th St.
- Friday, Nov. 20: Ferndale Repertory Theatre opens Disney's Frozen at 447 Main Street. It runs through December 20 and is billed as suitable for all ages.
- Saturday, Nov. 21: Frozen Family Day. Four tickets cost $75 with the code FROZEN26.
- Friday through Sunday, Nov. 27 to 29: The Holiday of Trees Bazaar runs 5 to 9 p.m. each night with local vendors and holiday food. Winter Wanderland opens the same Friday.
- Friday, Dec. 4: Hospitality Night on Main Street, 5 to 9 p.m., when merchants stay open late. The Ferndale Chamber of Commerce is the contact.
- Saturday, Dec. 5, morning: Santa and Ellie the Elf ride in on a fire truck to 405 Main Street, outside Redeye Laboratories, from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Family photos are free, and goodie bags go out while they last.
- Saturday, Dec. 5, evening: Sitka Wine Lounge holds its Ugly Sweater Contest & Party at 475 Main St., 7 to 9 p.m.
- Sunday, Dec. 6: The Christmas Tree Lighting at the end of Francis Street, near Berding Street. The ceremony starts at 5 p.m. and the tree is lit at 5:30. Ferndale's volunteer firefighters decorate it.
- Sunday, Dec. 20: The Lighted Tractor Parade on Main Street in front of the Victorian Inn. Tractors line up at 4:30 p.m., judging is at 5, and the parade starts at 6. Frozen closes the same day.
- Tuesday, Dec. 22: Winter Wanderland's only Tuesday opening.
- Thursday, Dec. 24: Last night of Winter Wanderland.
- Sunday, Jan. 10: Last day for the rink and Polar Bunny Hill.
Two weekends pack in the most. Thanksgiving weekend has the bazaar, the first nights of Winter Wanderland, and the rink on its holiday hours, all at the fairgrounds. The first weekend of December shifts the action to Main Street with Hospitality Night, Santa, the sweater party, and the tree lighting over three days. The fairgrounds lights stay open that Sunday, so you can walk the tree lighting and Winter Wanderland the same evening.
Plan around Mondays. From mid-November through Christmas Eve, Monday is the one day nothing runs on 5th Street. Tuesday is nearly as quiet, because the lights are dark and the rink doesn't open until afternoon.
If you followed the fall run of Frightfully Fun and the Berding Street events in our guide to fall in Ferndale, this is the next stretch of that calendar. This year, that stretch opens at the fairgrounds. More on the town is on our Ferndale community page.
The fair's board hasn't set Polar Bunny Hill hours yet, and the Fair Association updates its Winter Fair page as details change, so check it before you go. If a winter at the fairgrounds has you thinking about a home within walking distance of 5th Street, or about what your Ferndale Victorian is worth before the new year, the agents at Coldwell Banker Cutten Realty know these streets well and are happy to talk it through. Contact Us Today.
