Marquee Events

Perhaps more than anything else, Gateway Arch Park Foundation is most known to St. Louisans as the host of two of the biggest, non-sports-related annual events in Downtown St. Louis: Blues at the Arch and Winterfest.

These two signature events bring tens of thousands of people to Gateway Arch National Park and Kiener Plaza each year. They also support dozens of local businesses, artists and entrepreneurs and bring ample economic activity to Downtown.

Blues at the Arch Festival

Together with the National Blues Museum and National Park Service, the Foundation produces an annual large-scale music festival in the park’s North Gateway, featuring top national and regional blues talent.

This event is totally free, inviting the community to enjoy live music and celebrate St. Louis’ heritage as a blues city.

In previous years, Blues at the Arch was a weekly August concert series, but in 2022 (after two years of virtual concerts due to the pandemic), we reimagined it as a weekend-long Festival, making it possible to engage even more renowned blues musicians and burgeoning its ability to serve as a destination for out-of-town travelers. In 2024, the ninth annual Blues at the Arch Festival welcomed over 15,500 attendees to the park for two days of blues music, followed by a Blues Brunch at 612North in Laclede’s Landing. According to a third-party economic impact study conducted by Tripp Umbach, the 2024 Blues at the Arch Festival generated $2 million in regional economic impact on the St. Louis region.

Our goal is to continue to build the Festival’s reputation as one of St. Louis’ premier music festivals – and the only free festival of its kind to take place on national park grounds.

Foundation members at the Supporter level and above are always invited to enjoy dinner in the Member & Sponsor Tent on opening night. Become a Member at the Supporter level and enjoy the perk!

Stay tuned to our archpark.org/events or our socials for the latest updates on Blues at the Arch.

Winterfest

Gateway Arch Park Foundation is proud to host one of St. Louis’ favorite holiday traditions, Winterfest, presented by Bank of America and World Wide Technology.

Winterfest is a several-weekend-long event in Kiener Plaza inviting St. Louisans to ice skate in the shadow of the Gateway Arch surrounded by 100,000 twinkling lights and enjoy the holiday merriment. Winterfest also includes s’mores stations, igloo rentals, visits from characters, free ice skating and hockey lessons, New Year’s Eve fireworks, special guest appearances and much more.

In 2021, we also introduced the Winterfest 5K to kick off the Winterfest season. The Winterfest 5K is the only official run/walk of its kind that routes through the beautiful Arch grounds and supports the park. It doesn’t get more “St. Louis” than this!

In 2024, Winterfest welcomed more than 52,000 visitors to Downtown St. Louis over 19 days. More than 460 runners participated in the Winterfest 5k, and it continues to grow each year. According to a third-party economic impact study conducted by Tripp Umbach, the 2024 Winterfest activities generated $6.8 million in economic impact on the St. Louis region.

Stay tuned to our archpark.org/events or our socials for the latest updates on Winterfest.