Stardew Valley Winter Star (ice) Festival

Everyone loves winter holidays, and inhabitants of Stardew Valley are no exception. On Winter 25th, Stardew valley celebrates the Feast of the Winter Star. If you talk to Willy, he will tell you a story about a bright star that used to attract people from far away because a legend says that it can bless with good luck.

If you want to attend, you can enter Pelican Town between 9 AM and 2 PM. When you leave, you will return to the Farm at 10 PM. The Feast of the Winter Star has a lot in common with Christmas. For example, the main feature of this festival is gift-giving. You will be assigned a random character and become his or her “secret Santa,” also receiving a gift from another random character. Fortunately, you have enough time to prepare: on Winter 18th, Mayor Lewis will send you a letter with information on who should receive a gift from you. As soon as you leave Pelican Town, the festival ends.

Gift-giving

When you give a gift during the Feast of the Winter Star, it brings you five times more friendship points than usual. As soon as you give the present, the character who prepared a gift for you will reveal themselves and you’ll receive your present.

Here is a list of possible gifts you’ll receive, depending on your gift-giver:

• Clint may give you Gold Bar, Frozen Geode, Iridium Bar, Geode, or Magma Geode.
• Marnie will likely give you just a regular Egg.
• Willy may give you Magnet, Warp Totem (teleports to the Beach), or Dressed Spinner.
• Evelyn will bring you a Cookie.
• Robin will give you Hardwood, Wood, or Stone.
• If your gift-giver is a kid, you’ll receive Ancient Doll, Clay, Rainbow Shell, Frozen Geode, Magma Geode, or Geode.
• All the other villagers except those listed above may give you Blackberry Cobbler, Pumpkin Pie, Deluxe Speed-Gro, Poppyseed Muffin, Nautilus Shell, Tea Set, Wine, Glow Ring, Pink Cake, Purple Mushroom, Jade, Ruby, Emerald, or Beer.

You should give your gifts carefully because the Stardew Valley game has a bug. When giving a gift to your gift recipient, you may give the whole stack of these items instead of a single one. Thus, we suggest that you separate your gift in advance by right-clicking it. There is no point in giving multiple items, since you’ll still receive 5x friendship points, regardless of how many gifts you give.

Another interesting feature of this winter festival is that it ends at 10 PM, but at this time, Pam is still at the bus stop. Thus, you can go to the Calico Desert after the festival, if you want.

Festival of Ice

This is another winter festival that takes place on Winter 8th. To attend it, enter Cindersap Forest between 9 AM and 2 PM. This festival includes various activities. There are snowmen, ice sculptures, and an Ice Fishing Contest, which will be appreciated by everyone who likes Stardew Valley fishing and has nice fishing skills.

If you decide to participate in the Ice Fishing Contest, you will compete with Willy, Pam, and Elliott. To win, you should catch at least five fish. As a reward, you will get a Dressed Spinner, a Barbed Hook, a Sailor’s Cap, and a Magnet. These items are worth 2,000 gold in total, which is a nice sort of motivation. If you win the contest along with somebody else, each one of you will receive rewards. However, winning the contest is not easy: the holes in the ice are small. Thus, we suggest that you cast at the shortest distance. Keep in mind that only fish caught within the frozen lake counts.

There is also another important thing to know about the Fishing Contest, and it’s bugs. If you move right to the nearest fishing spot after talking to Mayor Lewis and cast a line too far from the hole, your character will get stuck. You won’t be able to use any buttons and your character will remain inactive for two minutes. After this, the contest will end and you’ll be able to keep playing as if you didn’t catch any fish. You may also trigger this bug not immediately but after a few casts, so we suggest that you be very precise when casting.

Another bug triggers if you hold down a directional control when the contest starts. In this case, you just won’t get a fishing rod. However, you’ll be able to talk to other characters, who will follow the same dialogue as before the contest has begun.