There’s a reason the SnowGlobe Music Festival topped our first annual list of the most popular US  fests and the MFW crew turned out in force to find out why.  SnowGlobe, now in its fourth year, has made good on their promise to bring an EDM style festival to a ski town – in the middle of winter. While the ski world is no stranger to massive slopeside concerts, they generally tend to skew more towards bluegrass and family friendly fun.

This is not that type of festival.

SnowGlobe is loud. It’s flashy. Music shakes your chest. Fireworks explode. Revelers wear full body costumes. Flame cannons are shooting from the stage into the sky. Flame cannons!

A part of the success of the fest comes from their timing and location. Planning a winter ski trip? Go to SnowGlobe. Need plans for New Year’s Eve? Go to SnowGlobe. Looking for a killer EDM festival? Go to SnowGlobe.

What’s the scene like? Imagine a club filled with thousands of EDM fans dancing and screaming and losing their minds. And it’s outside. In the middle of the winter. I’m guessing some of you will stop reading there, but I’m also guessing based on our website traffic, that others are heading straight to the official website where SnowGlobe is already selling tickets to next year’s show.

Most of the action happens on the main outdoor stage. Porter Robinson, Flume, Skrillex and the other headliners held court to the single largest gathering of folks at the festival. To warm up, there are three different yurt-style stages ranging from “pretty warm” to “pull-open-your-bear-suit-hot”. Big points here to the organizers  – for such a loud festival, all the stages and services feel super close to each other and yet don’t seem to overlap.

South Lake Tahoe is an ideal ski town to host this type of festival. Having lived on at ski areas my entire life (and in a RV for most of one winter), I can say there’s really no other place that parties as hard in winter as SLT . There’s a strong mix of snow bums, 24-hour casinos, and a California vibe that makes this place pop.

SnowGlobe isn’t just a chill festival, it’s downright chilly, with the wind driving the temperature down to the frozen end of the thermometer during the event. But hey, it’s wintertime in the Sierra Nevadas. All you need is a bushy coat, warm gloves, dry socks, and plenty of handwarmers to keep toasty – this is not the type of festival where you want to unveil your summertime EDM style costume.

The final verdict: SnowGlobe is a boutique music festival that feels like a mega-festival tucked away in one of the most scenic places in the West. Pack your snowboard (and pack a very warm coat) – this is one festival we definitely recommend.