The Sapporo Snow Festival, which started in 1950 when local junior and senior high school students created six snow sculptures in Odori Park, is a major event in the winter season of Sapporo.
The 1.5km-long Odori Park in the center of the city is lined with powerful snow and ice sculptures, attracting tourists from all over the world. Local gourmet foods and specialties from all over Hokkaido gather at the event site, where you can also enjoy a hot drink. In recent years, projection mapping, in which gorgeous and powerful images are projected on the snow sculptures, has also become popular.

The Sapporo Odori Beer Garden is held on a scale unparalleled in Japan. As one of the events of the Sapporo Summer Festival, it is usually held together with the Hokkai Bon Dance and Susukino Festival. Many beer gardens appear in the east-west stretch of Odori Park from 5 to 11 chome, with more than 10,000 seats available. The event is one of the largest of its kind in Japan, and is one of the summer traditions that Sapporo citizens look forward to every year.