Enjoy the warmth of community on a winter evening at the refuge! Take a walk on our candle lit luminary trail and get cozy in the Visitor Center and explore We Are Water exhibit as we celebrate the season with activities for all ages. Free snacks and cocoa courtesy of the Minnesota Valley Refuge Friends!
No registration required. This program has both indoor and outdoor activities. Candlelight trail has two options for a self-paced walk: 0.25 mile walk on paved, flat trail or 0.5 mile walk natural surface with steep slopes and stairs. Clothing and shoes you can comfortably move around in. This program has indoor and outdoor portions, please bring outerware appropriate for the weather.
Restrooms and water fountains are located inside the visitor center. Handicap parking and dropoff available. Visitor center is flat aggregate or carpeted flooring with ramps to access all areas. There are benches and rest areas around the visitor center.
Hillside and Spur trails are natural surface with has steep slopes, with a wooden staircase for a portion of it. Long Meadow Lake trail is accessed via these sloped trails, but itself is mostly flat and is natural surface. Depending on seasonal trail conditions, natural surface paths may be muddy (summer) or snowy (winter) and may not always be suitable for strollers or wheelchairs. There are no benches in the trail area. Trailheads are a 0.1-0.2 mile distance from the parking lot.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is committed to providing access to these events for all participants. Please direct all requests for sign language interpreting services, close captioning, or other accommodation needs at least ten business days before the event to Oscar Hernandez at
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We Are Water MN is a traveling exhibit and community engagement program that builds relationships between people and water. It is an interactive exhibit. There are spaces for people to talk with their neighbors, add their own stories and water actions, and learn from video and audio stories. There are also puzzles, puppets, and kids’ books so the littlest learners can participate too! Learn more about We Are Water here.
"We are Water MN" is led by the Minnesota Humanities Center in partnership with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency; the Minnesota Historical Society; the Board of Water and Soil Resources; the Minnesota Departments of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources; and University of Minnesota Extension.
We are Water MN is funded in part with money from the Clean Water, Land, & Legacy Fund that was created with the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008 and by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
For more information visit: fws.gov/story/2025-06/we-are-water-mn
Questions? Contact
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Ice Luminaries on Hillside Trail by Kelly Quain/USFWS
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