Winter Fun Returns With St. Cloud’s Bold And Bright Event

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- A downtown St. Cloud event will return this winter with some new activities. Bold & Bright 2026 will take place from January 30th through February 1st. The event will have a pond hockey tournament, a winter market, live music, a lights parade, fireworks, and more. New for 2026 is the Toboggan Derby and Mac & Cheese Crawl.

How does the Toboggan Derby work?

Visit Greater St. Cloud's Executive Director Rachel Thompson says the derby is sure to be a bit crazy:

"You create your own toboggan, whatever that means to you; it just can't be motorized. If you want to put a recliner on sleds, if you want to start out as a wagon base, if you want to do , whatever it might be that you come up with, you just have to have a team of three people and you all have to be in the toboggan at some point so we'll have two switches throughout the course and it's a matter of speed."

Thompson says the Toboggan Derby road course could be dry or snow-covered, so Mother Nature will make that decision, and it is free to enter. She says there will be heat winners, a winner for best-designed toboggan, and both adult and youth races. The Toboggan Derby will take place at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 31st, in downtown St. Cloud, and registration is open.

How much Mac & Cheese do you get in the crawl?

Also new for 2026 is the Mac & Cheese Crawl. Thompson says the Mac and Cheese Crawl will be a tasty adventure:

"So that one has 10 different locations. You get 4 ounces of mac and cheese per location, and they all have a different kind of twist to them, so think deep-fried mac and cheese, think Pad Thai Mac and Cheese, maybe some buffalo chicken mac and then with one prize pack, or one ticket pack, excuse me, you get to go to each of those 10 locations and try those."

Thompson says people will also get to vote for their favorite, and the winner will be announced as the last float in the parade. The Mac and Cheese crawl costs $30 to attend, and space is limited. It runs from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on January 31st, and you can reserve your spot today.

READ MORE FROM AUTHOR PAUL HABSTRITT