Make It York has delivered a highly successful programme of winter events, generating strong visitor engagement, supporting local businesses and reinforcing York’s position as a vibrant, year-round destination.
From festive celebrations to family-friendly attractions, the city’s winter calendar has attracted residents and visitors, creating memorable experiences and showcasing everything that makes York special.
Across winter 2025–26, Make It York’s events programme played a key role in supporting the local economy. By driving significant footfall during the traditionally quieter season, boosting independent businesses and regional traders, and encouraging both day visits and overnight stays, the events helped sustain economic activity while strengthening community participation. Collectively, these initiatives have reinforced York’s reputation as a leading cultural destination and highlighted the city’s appeal throughout the year.
York Ice Trail – thousands enjoy an enchanted weekend
York’s streets were transformed on 7–8 February as the York Ice Trail 2026 brought the “Enchanted City” theme to life with 36 mythical ice sculptures, interactive installations and family-friendly activities across the city centre.
Curated by Make It York in partnership with local businesses and created by Icebox, the UK and Europe’s leading ice sculpture specialist, each sculpture was sponsored by a York-based organisation, demonstrating strong local backing for the much-loved event.
New for 2026, the Ice Village introduced a vibrant marketplace of handcrafted gifts, artisan products and seasonal treats, enhancing dwell time and visitor experience.
The event recorded over 63,770 footfall counts across Micklegate and Parliament Street during the weekend. Despite overall city centre footfall being 26% lower than 2025, visitor satisfaction remained exceptionally high, highlighting the enduring popularity of the event.
An impressive 94% of visitors said they were satisfied with their overall experience, with 97% stating they would attend again. The event achieved an average rating of 4.5 out of 5 from 272 surveyed attendees
The majority of visitors (82%) travelled to York on a day trip, while 18% stayed overnight, demonstrating the event’s continued ability to drive both day visits and extended stays
Feedback from traders, sponsors and volunteers reflected the strong atmosphere across the city, with many reporting positive engagement, strong takings for the time of year, and valuable future business opportunities.
Visitors described the sculptures as “brilliant”, “beautiful” and “a fabulous family day out”, with many returning for multiple years and calling for the event to continue.
The York Ice Trail plays a vital role in driving footfall, supporting local businesses during the winter season and reinforcing York’s reputation as a vibrant year-round destination.
York Residents’ Festival – delivering record engagement
Held on 31 January and 1 February, York Residents’ Festival recorded its most successful year to date, with 86 exclusive offers available – a 23% increase on 2025.
Organised by Make It York, the festival provides residents with free entry, special experiences and exclusive offers across attractions, venues and businesses city-wide and beyond.
This year saw 86 offers available to residents, up from 70 in 2025, representing a 23% increase and demonstrating growing confidence from businesses and attractions taking part. The expanded programme also provided residents with a wider choice of ways to explore and enjoy the city.
There was a strong take-up of pre-booked tickets for a second consecutive year, resulting in a significant growth in online engagement and an 8.6% increase in click-throughs from Visit York to partner websites.
Positive partner feedback highlighted high awareness and increased local footfall, reporting strong January trading, increased family participation and high levels of engagement driven by festival publicity.
York Christmas Market – celebrates Yorkshire traders
York’s award-winning Christmas Market in 2025 proudly welcomed residents and visitors from 13 November to 21 December for another successful festive season, transforming the city centre into a vibrant winter destination.
The market continues to play a significant role in supporting regional traders, strengthening York’s winter economy and attracting both residents and visitors.
The market showcased seasonal food and drink, handcrafted gifts and artisan products from across the region, as Make It York continues to champion Yorkshire’s producers and makers. The 2025 market featured a blend of new traders alongside much-loved returning favourites. An impressive 85% of all traders were based within the Yorkshire region, with every food trader (100%) proudly representing Yorkshire produce and culinary talent.
Make It York’s commitment in ensuring the Christmas Market’s inclusivity and accessibility included the daily Quiet Time sessions to support a more sensory-friendly experience, and the continued partnership with St Sampson’s Centre and City of York Council, for a Quiet Oasis which provided a calm, accessible and welcoming space for all visitors to relax.
Environmental sustainability remains a key priority for all Make It York events. Visitors were encouraged to use public transport as the most convenient way to access the city centre, including York Park & Ride services, journey planning through i-Travel York, and secure cycle storage provided in collaboration with York Cycle Campaign.
Sarah Loftus, Managing Director of Make It York, said:
“Thank you to everyone who joined us across this year’s winter events programme. From the continued success of York Ice Trail to the growing impact of York Residents’ Festival and another outstanding York Christmas Market, it’s been fantastic to see such strong support from both residents and visitors. The growth in participation and engagement shows just how much people value the opportunity to explore and celebrate the city they call home.
We are incredibly grateful to our partners, sponsors and traders whose support makes these events possible, and we are proud to champion Yorkshire businesses while continuing to strengthen accessibility, inclusivity and sustainability across everything we deliver. We’re already looking forward to welcoming everyone back!”
Further information about upcoming events can be found at visityork.org
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PRESS RELEASE: 12 March 2026
NOTES TO EDITORS
About Make It York
Make It York’s purpose is to develop and promote the city and its surroundings – nationally and internationally – as a vibrant and attractive place to live, visit, study, work and do business. Its mission is to grow the economic prosperity and wider wellbeing of York and its citizens. In practice, this means delivering a range of projects and programmes based around our corporate strategic priorities. These are: City positioning and profile-raising; Ensuring an exciting city centre; Delivering the city’s ground-breaking Cultural Strategy. MakeItYork.com
About Visit York
Visit York is a part of Make It York and is the leisure tourism brand. Under the brand Visit York, Make It York’s aim is to market York as a must-see world-class destination to the leisure and business visitor and ensure investment to develop the quality of tourism in York. Activity covers all aspects of tourism marketing and PR, including market intelligence, as well as providing business support through the membership programme. Visit York operate the Visit York Pass, York’s city-sightseeing card, and run the Visitor Information Centre. VisitYork.org
