Referred to as "the roof of Korea," Daegwallyeong area sees heavy snow that often exceeds 1m, isolating the town with frequency. Hence, people had to wear snow shoes, enjoyed hunting, and used balgu (a specially designed carrier sled) to move necessities and pyres around. To inherit and develop such unique winter living culture and promote the snowy town's image domestically and internationally, the festival takes place in January each year since 1993.

As Korea's first traditional winter festival, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (currently the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) selected it as one of the top 10 winter cultural tourism festivals of Korea; further solidifying its ground as iconic winter festival when it was selected as top 12 cultural festivals nationwide in the first half of 2000.

The festival provides exotic events such as International Half-naked Marathon, huge snow sculpture display from over the world, snow sculpting competition for amateurs; as well as experiential programs such as Daegwallyeong snowflake hiking, writing contest, stage performance and singing, pounding tteok, making traditional taffy and bow, pottery handpainting, making tofu, snow rafting, motorcycle·bobsleigh, snow sled, snowflake train, balgu, and walking on snow shoes.