Winter With Kids in Fargo-Moorhead
Sledding hills, outdoor rinks, warming houses and ski trails across all three park districts — what is free, what costs, and the number that closes it all.
Winter is the longest season here and the one that needs the most planning, because almost none of it runs to a fixed schedule. Three park districts each publish their own rinks, hills and hours, and no single page covers all three — so this one does, sorted by city. Everything below came from the districts themselves. Where a district has not posted the coming season yet, it says so rather than borrowing a neighbor's dates.
Fargo
Fargo Parks has not posted the 2026–27 rink season yet: on 21 September 2026 its rink and warming-house page still led with last season's closing notice, dated 9 March 2026. The rink and warming-house hours below are the standing schedule printed on that page, with no season attached, so check it once the rinks go in.
Borrow a sled, freeEdgewood Chalet
Fargo Parks lends sleds at the hill and does not charge for them — the page says plainly that there is no charge to use the sleds at the Edgewood Chalet sledding hill. It also notes that a picture ID is required, and is handed back when the sled is returned at the Mickelson Park and Softball Fields hill. Worth knowing before you buy a sled for a once-a-winter afternoon.
- Cost: Free
- Bring: A picture ID
Read on the venue's own site September 22, 2026
The two sledding hillsFargo
Edgewood Chalet and Mickelson Park & Softball Fields, and both have a warming house on site — which is the difference between an hour outside and twenty minutes. The page carries a status note when the hills open and close, so check it after a thaw.
- Hills: 2, both with a warming house
- Hours: Weekdays 4–8 pm; weekends 12–8 pm
Read on the venue's own site September 22, 2026
Staffed warming housesFargo
Five are staffed through the season — Longfellow and Roosevelt on the north side, Centennial, Clara Barton and Kennedy on the south. The other rinks have no attendant, so plan the boots-and-mittens stop around these five.
- Staffed: 5
- Hours: Mon–Fri 4–8 pm; Sat–Sun 12–8 pm
- Holidays: Closed 24–25 December; 12–8 pm from 26 December to 2 January
Read on the venue's own site September 21, 2026
Outdoor rinksFargo
Sixteen across the city, and the lights are on at every one. Fargo Parks does not publish per-rink fees, a hockey-versus-pleasure split, or fixed opening dates — the rinks go in when the ground freezes, and the page carries a note when they open and close.
- Rinks: 16 citywide
- Lights: On at every outdoor rink
Read on the venue's own site September 21, 2026
Open skate at Broadway SquareDowntown Fargo
The best free thing on this page. Skating on the SCHEELS Skating Rink downtown costs nothing, and if nobody in the house owns skates the Skate Shack rents a pair for five dollars. Skating starts after the morning resurfacing and runs to 8 pm.
- Cost: Free to skate; $5 skate rental
- Season: Late November through March, weather permitting
- Skate Shack: Mon–Fri 4–8 pm; Sat–Sun 12–8 pm
Read on the venue's own site September 22, 2026
Indoor open skateFargo
Four arenas run it — Cornerstone Bank Arena (Armstrong and Fowler rinks), John E. Carlson Coliseum, the Sports Arena (Main and Studio rinks) and the Fargo Parks Sports Center. One line on that page is worth reading twice: bring your own skates, because rentals are not available at any of them. There are a few skate trainers at each arena. Times run off an event calendar rather than the page itself, so check before you drive over.
- Admission: Youth 18 and under $4; adults $5; family $8
- Free rink: Studio Rink at the Sports Arena
- Skates: No rentals anywhere — bring your own
Read on the venue's own site September 22, 2026
Moorhead
Moorhead has already posted the coming season, dates and all.
Sledding hillsMoorhead
Six of them: Horn, Riverview Estates, Romkey, Woodlawn, Viking Ship and Village Green Sixth.
- Hills: 6
Read on the venue's own site August 21, 2026
Outdoor rinksMoorhead
Seven have both a warming house and lights — Hansmann, Lamb, Morningside, Ridgewood, Riverview Estates, Village Green and South Park. Four more run without a warming house: Alm and Trails at Stonemill are lighted, Voll and Davy Memorial are not.
- With warming house: 7
- Without: 4
Read on the venue's own site August 21, 2026
Rink and warming house hoursMoorhead
Weekend afternoons start an hour earlier here than in Fargo, and the extended hours cover the Christmas and New Year stretch plus the two mid-winter school breaks.
- Hours: Mon–Fri 4–8 pm; Sat–Sun 1–8 pm
- Extended: 1–8 pm on 23–31 December, 18 January and 15 February
- Closed: 24 and 25 December, 1 January
Read on the venue's own site September 22, 2026
Cross-country ski trailsMoorhead
Eight groomed trails with the mileage published for each: Gooseberry 3.1, M.B. Johnson 3.0, River Oaks 2.4, Viking Ship South 2.0, the Viking Ship–Memorial–Riverfront loop 1.9, Homestead 1.2, Horn 1.1 and Woodlawn 0.9. The short ones are the point with small kids.
- Trails: 8
- Longest: Gooseberry, 3.1 miles
- Shortest: Woodlawn, 0.9 miles
Read on the venue's own site August 21, 2026
Ski and snowshoe rentalHjemkomst Center, Moorhead
Gear rents from the Hjemkomst Center at 202 1 Ave N for use around Viking Ship Park. Bring cash or a checkbook — the city states cash and check payments only, which is exactly the detail that turns a planned afternoon into a drive home.
- Season: 12 December to 28 February
- Hours: Sat 10 am–4:30 pm; Sun 12–4:30 pm
- Payment: Cash and check only
- Holidays: Closed
Read on the venue's own site September 21, 2026
Open skate at Moorhead Sports CenterMoorhead
Go in through the athletic entrance on the north-east side of the high school, Door #19. Fees are published; hours for the coming season are not, and the city lists them as still to be decided. Moorhead Youth Hockey at 218.284.2287 is the number printed on that page.
- Admission: Individual $5; family $10
- Skate rental: $2
- Hours: Set week by week on the Moorhead Sports Center calendar, linked from Moorhead Parks' winter page
Read on the venue's own site September 22, 2026
Free youth open gymEllen Hopkins Elementary, Moorhead
Saturdays through the school year at 2020 11 St S — free, ages 17 and under, and it opens in early October, which makes it the one thing on this page that is useful before the ice goes in. The city lists four Saturdays with no open gym: 17 October, 28 November, 26 December and 2 January.
- Cost: Free
- Ages: 17 and under
- Hours: Saturdays 10 am–2 pm, 3 October to 20 March
Read on the venue's own site September 21, 2026
West Fargo
Outdoor rinksWest Fargo
Every West Fargo Park District rink is free and open to the public. Four have a warming house — Dakota, Maplewood, Rendezvous and Tintes — and Maplewood and Tintes carry a pleasure rink alongside the main sheet. The district floods them in early December, once the ground is frozen and it is cold enough to hold ice.
- Cost: Free
- With warming house: Dakota, Maplewood, Rendezvous, Tintes
- Typically flooded: Early December
Read on the venue's own site September 22, 2026
Warming house hoursWest Fargo
The same weekday-evening and weekend-afternoon pattern as Fargo, with a shorter day on the two big eves.
- Hours: Weekdays 4–8 pm; weekends 12–8 pm
- Holiday break: 12–8 pm
- Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve: 12–6 pm
Read on the venue's own site September 21, 2026
Sledding hillsWest Fargo
Five, all free. Rendezvous and Maplewood have a warming house at the hill; Rivers Bend, West River Park and Goldenwood do not, so those are shorter trips with small kids.
- Hills: 5, all free
- With warming house: Rendezvous, Maplewood
Read on the venue's own site August 21, 2026
Dates for the coming seasonWest Fargo
Not posted yet. At the time of this check the district's rinks page still carried last season's closing notice, so the opening date is genuinely unpublished rather than something we could not find. The district runs an information and cancellation line for weather closures, which is the number to call once the ice is in.
- Season dates: Not published yet
- Info and cancellation line: 701-551-7138
Read on the venue's own site September 21, 2026
All three districts close on the same number. Warming houses and rinks shut early when the temperature hits -10 or colder, or the wind chill is -30 or worse — Fargo, Moorhead and Broadway Square all publish that identical rule, and Moorhead adds that it also closes when the ice is deemed unsafe or unskatable. One number to plan a whole winter around.
Every place on this page was read on its own website, and the date beside each one is the day we read it. What that date does and does not promise.
From the blog: Surviving a Fargo Winter With Toddlers
More in this section: Things To Do in Fargo-Moorhead