A view of Nicollet Mall during Holidazzle 2024 Photo by Allison Kaplan

Tens of thousands of revelers headed to downtown Minneapolis for Holidazzle this holiday season, and planners aim to keep it in the city’s urban core for future iterations.

According to data compiled by the Minneapolis Downtown Council, about 65,000 people attended the mid-December holiday festival, which, after several years in Loring Park, returned to Nicollet Mall for the first time in a decade. That’s fewer than the council’s initial projections of around 100,000, but council president and CEO Adam Duininck still counts the 2024 Holidazzle as a success.

The council estimates attendance through a subscription to Placer.ai, which gathers cellphone data in a given location. The firm’s data also indicated that attendees spent, on average, over an hour at the festival, Duininck noted.

“We’re excited to have downtown be the center of Holidazzle,” he said in a Thursday interview with TCB. “A lot of people create emotional connections around both the holidays and their city. To combine both of those things this year was a great opportunity.”

Holidazzle also resulted in a 168% increase in foot traffic on Nicollet Mall, compared to typical traffic on the street a year ago.

Anecdotes from bars and restaurants downtown indicate an uptick in traffic and revenue during the five-day festival, too, according to Duininck. The event ran from Dec. 18-22. Except for Dec. 22, Holidazzle was open until 9 p.m., but there’s a chance it might run later in the future. “A key takeaway I heard was that the hours should be later than 9 p.m., at least on Friday and Saturday,” Duininck said.

Holidazzle, which first launched in 1992, has long been known for a parade down Nicollet Mall. But that went away in 2013, when the festival moved to Loring Park. Is there a chance planners will bring the parade back? Maybe. Duininck said it remains a “big cost question” for the festival, which this year had a budget of just around $500,000. Notably, the downtown council canceled Holidazzle entirely in 2023 over a funding shortfall.

For local businesses, there are certainly advantages to a more festival-oriented event.

“A lot of businesses prefer the festival model,” he noted. In the past, many attendees attended the parade and didn’t stick around downtown to shop and eat.

Still, Duininck said he’d “never say never” to bringing the parade back. In the future, it’s possible that Holidazzle includes a festival that culminates in a parade, he suggested.

Whatever path planners choose, it’s likely Holidazzle will remain somewhere downtown. “Our intent will be to continue on in the downtown core,” Duininck said.

Meanwhile, Duininck noted that there’s still a push to turn Nicollet Mall into a fully “pedestrianized” thoroughfare. It’s a goal that’s been laid out in several plans for downtown Minneapolis. Both Metro Transit and the city of Minneapolis are “looking to pursue” a pedestrian-only Nicollet Mall, he said.

Duininck expects “more serious progress” on the effort in the next six to 12 months.