The very first Stella Polaris event took place in 1997 in Vennelyst Parken in Århus, the second biggest city in Denmark. The idea was born at the end of a long club night and realized two weeks later with a modest setup that attracted around 400 people. During the next couple of years, the event grew in size with 5000 – 7000 people attending each time, and in 2001, the festival was introduced in Copenhagen. Since then, Stella Polaris has taken place in Aalborg, Odense, Esbjerg, Sønderborg, Silkeborg and Kolding.
The first event in the capital attracted several thousands, and after two successful events in Frederiksberg Have, the festival moved to Østre Anlæg, the park next to the national gallery, Statens Museum for Kunst, and in 2013, moved back to Frederiksberg Have. In Frederiksberg Have the dj-booth is situated in front of the castle, sending out mellow, slow tempo electronic music across the colorful landscape of private picnics and playful palavers sprawled out on the gentle slopes of the park. Speakers are strewn across the grounds, wrapping their electronic blankets of dubby and jazzy slo-mo sounds round the dark green August trees and the thousands of happy people, sunbathing in the grass, dozing off in bean bags or picnicking on chequered blankets. Everyone is relaxed, pleasantly tipsy or plainly absorbed in music, everything bound together by the trickling and crackling electronic sounds that seem to emerge from the landscape itself.