Updated March 2026

The Maid of the Mist is probably one of my favorite things in Niagara Falls.

This iconic boat ride from Prospect Point to the base of the Horseshoe Falls started as a transport service all the way back in 1846 before becoming a tourist ride in the 1850s after completion of the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge. This makes it one of the oldest tourist attractions in America!

Millions of people ride the Maid of the Mist every year, with peaks during the Independence Day and Labor Day weekends usually reaching upwards of 16,000-17,000 people per day.

Since 2020, the Maid has used their all-electric vessels. These boats (the James V. Glynn and the Nikola Tesla) were the first of their kind in North America, and upped the Maid’s capacity to 600 guests per trip (although the average capacity numbers usually hover around 450 or so).

Now, if you’re sick of the cold weather and looking to plan your ride aboard the Maid, you’re probably wondering when it opens.

The answer to this actually changes each year, and it comes down to a chain of events that all begin with Lake Erie. So, let’s take a look at who decides when the Maid opens, what happens prior to opening, and most importantly, estimate when the Maid is going to open.

Starting with a “Boom”

If there’s one thing we know about Western New York, it’s that we have cold winters and lots of snow.

Now, Niagara Falls will almost always get less snow than Buffalo due to how Lake Effect functions (Niagara’s far enough away from Lake Erie), but Lake Effect is actually a good sign for an earlier Maid of the Mist opening.

Lake Effect is caused when an cold air hits the water of Lake Erie. If the lake is frozen, that means the Lake Effect system is effectively shut off.

The downside of this is that Lake Erie is frozen. The longer it takes the lake to thaw, the longer it takes for the infamous Ice Boom to be removed.

Since 1964, the International Joint Commission (the same people that control the flow of Niagara Falls) have installed an ice boom to prevent ice jams in the Niagara River.

This ice boom, which is a series of steel pontoons strung at the mouth of the upper Niagara River, keeps the ice sheets from gunking up our water intakes and inhibiting the American and Canadian Power Plants. This boom will only be removed once the majority of the ice on our end of Lake Erie has melted. Once this boom is removed, and the remaining ice has cleared Niagara Falls, the drydock crew at the Maid of the Mist can get to work.

Prepping the Maid for season

Once the IJC has confirmed the waters are cleared, the Maid of the Mist’s drydock team will begin the process of pulling the boats from their winter storage at the former Schoellkopf Power Plant site.

The crane will lift the boat off the concrete drydock, and place them into the Niagara River. These boats will then head to Prospect Point, dragging with them the passenger loading dock.

This dock is carefully attached to the concrete pad at the base of the Observation Tower, and will soon be helping thousands of visitors from all over the world board and disembark the Glynn and Tesla.

From this point on, the Maid of the Mist’s opening is imminent. As soon as all of the boat crew and dock staff are brought in, and everything is cleared with US Coast Guard, the Maid is good to go!

When does the Maid usually open?

Now that we understand everything that has to happen for the Maid of the Mist to begin its season, we can look at the last several years to really get an idea.

2024 was an early start for the Maid. Virtually no ice and the All-American Solar Eclipse led the Maid to open on April 4th.

This was one of the earliest openings on record, but 2017 was surprisingly even earlier. Sustained warm temperatures and no ice coverage led to the boats beginning on April 1st!

Sometimes, the ice records can throw of the record. While the maximum ice coverage for 2016 was nearly 80%, a rapid melt led to an April 2nd opening.

By contrast, 2019 was a severely late season for the Maid. Late freezes and severe ice flows that lasted well into April delayed opening until May 24th.

2019 was the latest natural opening in the last 10 years (2020 was delayed until June 26th due to the COVID-19 lockdowns, but prior to this, there were projections that the boat could open by the end of March.)

If we were to add in the maximum ice coverage and opening dates for 2018 (95%, April 27th), 2021 (80%, April 29th), 2022 (80%, April 29th), 2023 (~10%, April 15th), & 2025 (95% , May 1st), we can see that a very clear trend starts to appear. So, where does that leave us for 2026?

When will the Maid open in 2026?

Lake Erie has been brutal in 2026, reaching an almost 100% coverage of ice in February. As of March 8th, the lake is about 70% ice. A recent warmup is slowly thawing the lake, but we are 20% above the historical average for this time of year. Barring a rapid thaw, I would predict a rather late mid-May opening this year, possibly on par with 2019 (although we hope it will be much sooner!)

It’s important to remember that I’m not a rocket scientist, nor a stats expert. This is really just a ballpark estimate based on current weather and projections.

Once the Maid of the Mist releases their official opening day, I’ll update this post (mainly to see how far off my educated guess is).

Luckily, now you can impress your family with all of the facts you know about the Maid of the Mist, ice booms, Lake Erie freezing rates, and all the other little things that make Niagara Falls so awesome!

Have a topic you’d like me to cover here on the blog? Let me know in the comments!

-Sheepie ❤