North American Vasa Festival Of Races
Traverse City, United States • 14-15 Feb 2026
50th Annual North American Vasa Festival of Races
The North American Vasa Festival of Races takes place February 14–15, 2026 in Traverse City, Michigan, with Timber Ridge Resort as the event base. The festival includes Nordic ski competitions in both classic and freestyle techniques and fat tire bike races held on the Vasa Pathway and winter singletrack trails of the Pere Marquette State Forest.
Events span a range of distances and formats, and include youth and adaptive categories as well as team relay racing. Race offerings listed for 2026 include these distances and formats:
- 50k classic and freestyle
- 27k George Kuhn half marathon freestyle
- 15k Lombard Loppet classic
- 12k Okerstrom Kortelopet freestyle
- 6k Vasa Tour and Mark Esper 6k classic
- 25k fatbike
A community celebration and awards ceremony for the 50th anniversary is scheduled Saturday evening at the Park Place Hotel Ballroom. The celebration features live music, appetizers, a cash bar, raffle prizes, and awards pickup for Saturday events. Tickets are listed at $10 online and $15 at the door with limited capacity noted.
Course grooming, on-snow racing formats, youth competitions, adaptive skier opportunities, and a community awards program are part of the festival program. Visit the organization's website for the most recent information.