Glow Holiday Festival

What Glow Holiday Festival does

GLOW Holiday Festival is a privately held, single-product seasonal entertainment business that operates a winter holiday light festival at CHS Field in St. Paul, Minnesota, home of the St. Paul Saints. Founded in 2020 and structured as a Minnesota LLC, the company runs the festival during the annual winter holiday season, drawing approximately 100,000 attendees per season and generating an estimated 38 million impressions through email, TikTok, and community marketing. The core product is a walk-through experience featuring millions of lights, interactive exhibits (with new annual additions such as a zip line), food and beverages, local choirs, and Santa experiences, augmented by a small on-site gift shop.

The business operates a hybrid revenue model with four streams: consumer ticket sales, corporate sponsorship packages, private holiday event bookings (for corporate and family gatherings), and on-site merchandise. The sponsorship layer includes 11+ named regional partners across financial services, hospitality, automotive, and public sectors, while a charity partnership program channels $1 per designated charity-night ticket to one of 40+ Minnesota nonprofits, contributing to a cumulative $350,000 in charitable donations since inception. Marketing relies on a top-of-funnel mix of email newsletters (750,000 emails sent) and organic TikTok content (300,000 video views), complemented by community partnerships.

GLOW's strategic posture is conservative and operationally focused: the company reinvests annually into new exhibits, has announced plans for a larger 2026 edition at the same venue, and has not disclosed any institutional funding, M&A activity, geographic expansion beyond the Twin Cities, or senior leadership hires outside of managing partner Adam Wendle. The festival's structure creates concentrated seasonality risk (revenue effectively generated in a 6–8 week window) and single-venue dependency on the CHS Field/St. Paul Saints partnership.

Name

Glow Holiday Festival

Legal name

GLOW Holiday Festival LLC

Website

https://glowholiday.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

GLOW Holiday Festival operates a seasonal winter holiday light festival at CHS Field in St. Paul, Minnesota, serving families, corporate event clients, and regional sponsors with ticketed admission, sponsorships, private event bookings, and on-site merchandise.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Seasonal Holiday Entertainment and Light Festival

NAICS

Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation (71)

SIC

Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990)

akta.pro primary industry

National/Seasonal Holiday Festivals (New Year, Harvest, Winter Markets) (MPAGAEAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Holiday, Seasonal & Christmas Markets (MPAGAFAL), Seasonal & Special-Event Parks (Halloween/Christmas, Pop-Up Experiences) (THAJAEAH)

Keywords

• Holiday light festival
• Seasonal attractions
• Outdoor light displays
• Winter entertainment venue
• Corporate holiday events

Headquarters

HQ city

Hopkins

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Infrastructure, Personnel, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Ticket Sales: General admission tickets for festival entry during the winter holiday season
2. Sponsorships: Corporate sponsors pay for brand visibility at the festival through branded exhibits and marketing presence
3. Private Events and Parties: Hosting private work or family holiday gatherings at the venue for corporate and individual customers
4. Gift Shop: On-site merchandise sales through the gift shop

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

GLOW Holiday Festival operates a seasonal outdoor winter holiday light festival at CHS Field in St. Paul, Minnesota, featuring millions of lights, interactive exhibits, a zip line attraction, food and beverages, local choirs, Santa experiences, and photo opportunities. Revenue is generated primarily through general admission ticket sales, with supplementary income from on-site gift shop merchandise, private corporate and family event bookings, and corporate sponsorship packages.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• GLOW Holiday Festival General Admission Seasonal winter holiday light festival admission tickets for the general public, featuring millions of lights, interactive exhibits, a zip line, food and beverages, local choirs, and Santa experiences at CHS Field in St. Paul, Minnesota.
• GLOW Holiday Festival Gift Shop

Quantifiable outcome

• Donated $350,000 to Minnesota charities since 2020
• +2 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

36 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• CHS FieldcoreOthersVenue host location for GLOW Holiday Festival, operated by St. Paul Saints. Provides the physical space and infrastructure for the event.
• St. Paul SaintscoreOthersCo-host of the festival, providing venue access at CHS Field for the holiday event
• WindowNationminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSponsor of GLOW Holiday Festival
• SecurianminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSponsor of GLOW Holiday Festival
• BellBankminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSponsor of GLOW Holiday Festival
• ChevyminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSponsor of GLOW Holiday Festival
• EcolabminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSponsor of GLOW Holiday Festival
• Saint Paul HotelminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSponsor of GLOW Holiday Festival
• Drury HotelsminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSponsor of GLOW Holiday Festival
• WileyWallabyminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSponsor of GLOW Holiday Festival
• Metro TransitminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSponsor of GLOW Holiday Festival
• Mo GolfminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSponsor of GLOW Holiday Festival
• St. Paul Downtown AllianceminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSponsor of GLOW Holiday Festival
• Alzheimer's AssociationminorOthersCharity partner receiving $1 from each ticket sold during designated charity partner night
• Animal Humane SocietyminorOthersCharity partner receiving $1 from each ticket sold during designated charity partner night
• Breakthrough T1DminorOthersCharity partner receiving $1 from each ticket sold during designated charity partner night
• CornerHouseminorOthersCharity partner receiving $1 from each ticket sold during designated charity partner night
• CROSS ServicesminorOthersCharity partner receiving $1 from each ticket sold during designated charity partner night
• Epilepsy Foundation of MinnesotaminorOthersCharity partner receiving $1 from each ticket sold during designated charity partner night
• HopeChestminorOthersCharity partner receiving $1 from each ticket sold during designated charity partner night
• JFCSminorOthersCharity partner receiving $1 from each ticket sold during designated charity partner night
• Keystone ServicesminorOthersCharity partner receiving $1 from each ticket sold during designated charity partner night
• Make-A-Wish MinnesotaminorOthersCharity partner receiving $1 from each ticket sold during designated charity partner night
• Minnesota WarriorsminorOthersCharity partner receiving $1 from each ticket sold during designated charity partner night
• National Kidney Foundation of MinnesotaminorOthersCharity partner receiving $1 from each ticket sold during designated charity partner night
• Neighborhood HouseminorOthersCharity partner receiving $1 from each ticket sold during designated charity partner night
• Open ArmsminorOthersCharity partner receiving $1 from each ticket sold during designated charity partner night
• PacerminorOthersCharity partner receiving $1 from each ticket sold during designated charity partner night
• Page Education FoundationminorOthersCharity partner receiving $1 from each ticket sold during designated charity partner night
• Queer Space CollectiveminorOthersCharity partner receiving $1 from each ticket sold during designated charity partner night
• Science Museum of MinnesotaminorOthersCharity partner receiving $1 from each ticket sold during designated charity partner night
• Summit CountyAOminorOthersCharity partner receiving $1 from each ticket sold during designated charity partner night
• Grief Club MinnesotaminorOthersCharity partner receiving $1 from each ticket sold during designated charity partner night
• Urban VenturesminorOthersCharity partner receiving $1 from each ticket sold during designated charity partner night
• World Effort FoundationminorOthersCharity partner receiving $1 from each ticket sold during designated charity partner night
• United Way Greater Twin CitiesminorOthersCharity partner receiving $1 from each ticket sold during designated charity partner night

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Hersheypark Christmas Candylane: Christmas Candylane is Hersheypark's holiday light and entertainment experience at its Pennsylvania theme park, comparable as a ticketed outdoor winter light festival with corporate sponsor support.
• Illuminate Light Show: Illuminate is a traveling large-format outdoor holiday light experience staged across multiple U.S. cities, directly comparable in format, ticketing model, and seasonality.
• Busch Gardens Christmas Town: Christmas Town is Busch Gardens Williamsburg's dedicated holiday lights and entertainment offering, comparable as a large-scale, ticketed outdoor seasonal light festival with multi-month operating windows.
• Glow Gardens: Glow Gardens operates branded outdoor holiday light walks in multiple U.S. cities, sharing both format and brand naming with GLOW Holiday Festival and serving a similar family ticketed audience.
• Enchant Christmas: Enchant Christmas is a national traveling holiday lights festival that operates across multiple U.S. cities and venues, representing the closest large-scale multi-city analog to GLOW's format and franchise potential.
• Longwood Gardens — A Longwood Christmas: A Longwood Christmas is a ticketed outdoor holiday light and display experience staged at a major botanical garden, comparable in event type, seasonality, and family audience.
• Holidazzle: Holidazzle is a long-running outdoor winter holiday festival in downtown Minneapolis featuring light displays, vendors, and entertainment. It is directly comparable to GLOW in format, seasonality, and Twin Cities market overlap.
• Como Park Zoo Wild Lights: Wild Lights is Como Zoo's annual outdoor holiday light event held at the same Saint Paul, MN zoo district that competes directly with GLOW for family holiday entertainment dollars in the local market.
• Minnesota Zoo Zoom Lights: The Minnesota Zoo operates a seasonal holiday lights experience in Apple Valley, MN that competes for the same Twin Cities family-outing budget with an outdoor winter light festival format.

Broad incumbents

• Walt Disney World (Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party): Disney operates major themed holiday experiences at Walt Disney World that overlap with GLOW's family holiday entertainment offering, but at vastly greater scale, duration, and pricing.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/GlowHoliday

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Glow Holiday Festival