Downtown Mississauga is getting its own ski hill again. APIK Mississauga, a free urban winter sports festival, returns to Mississauga Celebration Square from Friday, Jan. 30, to Sunday, Feb. 1, the city announced Tuesday.

The three-day event is presented by Visit Mississauga, the city's tourism agency, and produced by Tribu Expérientiel. Nearly 100 skiers and snowboarders from the GTA, across Canada and abroad are set to compete for a $100,000 prize purse, split equally between men and women. The winners of the ski and snowboard contests will each take home $10,000.

A bigger snowpark

Organizers say this year's custom-built course is larger and more technical than last year's. The structure stands 45 feet tall, eight feet higher than in 2025, and stretches 292 feet, nearly the length of a football field. It has eight rail features and uses about 3,500 cubic metres of snow, which the city puts at roughly 350,000 shovel loads. Building it took 12 days and more than 800 staff hours.

The athlete list includes Ontario snowboarder Dani Brown and Ontario skateboarder Ben Patterson, along with Americans Taylor Brooke Lundquist and Jackson Karsteter, both listed by the city as 2025 champions. Ontario's Liam Brearley is a snowboard judge and ambassador. Competitors from Norway, Australia, Spain, France and Great Britain are also on the roster, and more names are still to be announced.

Weekend schedule

  • Friday, Jan. 30, 5 to 10 p.m.: snowskate best trick and a skateboarding best trick session

  • Saturday, Jan. 31, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.: ski best trick competition and podium presentation

  • Sunday, Feb. 1, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.: snowboard best trick competition and podium presentation

Between runs, the square will have live DJs, food trucks, pop-ups, game zones and an outdoor winter beer garden. Free snowskate lessons will run all weekend, with registration on site. Craig McMorris will host a webcast of the full weekend, joined by ski specialist Kim Lamarre on Saturday and snowboard specialist Mikey Ciccarelli on Sunday.

The festival falls on the same weekend as the playoffs of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre. The city is promoting both as part of a busy winter of sport in Mississauga.

Getting there

Celebration Square is at 300 City Centre Dr., at Burnhamthorpe Road West and Duke of York Boulevard, a short walk from the City Centre Transit Terminal. Free weekend parking is available in the Civic Centre and Central Library underground lots, with the entrance on Duke of York Boulevard, and there is street parking on Burnhamthorpe Road West. Admission is free.