Where it all started

Following the Blizzard of 1977, Walter Cronkite actually coined the phrase “Snowtown USA” when reporting how the blizzard dumped some 220 inches of snow on Watertown, New York. A few years later, organizers used it for the name of the new festival. Snowtown USA began in the early 1980s but ended in 1997 due to unfavorable weather conditions.

Through a group of volunteers, and the organizational structure of the City of Watertown’s Parks and Recreation Department and the Greater Watertown-North Country Chamber of Commerce, Snowtown USA was resurrected in 2013.