Cold temperatures are solid sign for Twin Cities’ winter event organizers and businesses

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - While millions of people across the country braced for a dumping of snow, the weather story here in the Twin Cities over the weekend was cold, but clear skies.

Winter festival organizers and ice fishing businesses said this colder start to the new year is already shaping up to be a more solid season than last year.

 Winter activity organizers hoping to make fully scheduled run this season

Better start this winter: The Ice Castles team said their run was cut short last year due to the unseasonably warm weather. They were only open for about a week of their four-to-six-week schedule. They were one of the many winter activities and festivals that were shortened last season, while some events were canceled all together.

Ice Castles is now open for the season in Falcon Heights. Colorful ice creations were seen on Sunday lighting up the night sky.

"We have caverns to explore, tunnels, ice slides, we have a castle quest that you can engage. You scan a QR code with your phone, and it takes you on a magical adventure and if you can get through it, you have a prize at the end. We have a nice ice river," said Nathan Russell, event manager at Ice Castles. "We’re so thankful that this season, this opening weekend has been a wonderful temperature for us to build. We’re looking for a much longer season."

Ice fishing season better than last winter so far: Another business who said they are hoping for a better winter season are bait and tackle shops.

DH Custom Rods & Tackle has been serving the Twin Cities for nearly 15 years.

"We do everything by hand," said Dustin Hafner, owner and president of DH Custom Rods & Tackle. "We have a large custom fishing rod business, so we do a lot of business there; live bait, of course, apparel, extensive tackle selection."

Hafner said last season was one of the worst ice fishing seasons their business has seen, "We had about two weeks of fishable ice and that was it."

He said this year is already looking a lot more solid.

"We got the warmup, all the snow melted, and then that refreezes, so it’s best-case scenario," said Hafner.

 Event organizers and businesses said they are cautiously optimistic that the cold weather they rely on will stick around for a while.

What you can do: Visit the Ice Castles website to learn more and plan your visit.