When the summer ends, so does the festival season. Across the Nordic countries, open-air stages, crews, and audiences go quiet. At the same time, many of the region’s largest event spaces — exhibition halls, convention centers, and arenas — stand half-empty during the coldest months. The potential is there, but it remains untapped. What if those spaces could be filled with light, music, and community? What if your expertise as a festival organizer could transform these quiet months into a season of cultural and commercial success? That’s the promise of a Winter festival concept: a recurring, professionally organized event that combines the magic of winter with the proven power of festival culture.

A Proven Concept: Het Amsterdam Winterparadijs

At the RAI Amsterdam, the concept brings together:

Daytime focus: Families enjoy skating on large indoor and outdoor ice rinks, children’s activities, and seasonal entertainment.
Evening focus: As night falls, the atmosphere shifts. DJs, live artists, and performances create a true festival vibe. Bars and restaurants serve winter favorites, keeping visitors on site for hours.
The ice rink as centerpiece: Both indoors and outdoors, the ice rinks form the heart of the experience — a unique visual and social hub that draws people in all day long.

The result? A festival that has become an annual tradition, attracting tens of thousands of visitors and proving that winter can be just as exciting and profitable as summer.

Why Festival/Event Organizers Are Perfect to Lead

The success of the Amsterdam Winterparadijs is no coincidence. It works because festival organizers already have the expertise needed to run such complex, high-energy events:

Production expertise – Staging, sound, lighting, and crowd management.
Supplier networks – Crews, caterers, decorators, and security partners ready to scale up.
Artist relationships – DJs, bands, and performers eager to play outside the summer season.
Audience connection – A loyal fanbase that trusts your brand and will follow you into winter.

In other words: everything you need to bring such a concept to life, you already have in place.

Unlocking the Potential of Empty Nordic Venues

From Stockholm’s exhibition centers to Helsinki’s convention halls, from Copenhagen’s Bella Center to Oslo Spektrum, large-scale venues are underused during winter. These spaces are perfectly suited to host a festival that blends entertainment, culture, and community.

By reimagining them as winter festival grounds, you create:

A reliable annual event that cities can promote as part of their cultural calendar.
A magnet for locals and tourists alike during the darkest months of the year.
A new business model that keeps crews, suppliers, and partners active year-round.