Ice Castles attraction to return to New Brighton this winter
Ice Castles are returning to New Brighton’s Long Lake Regional Park this winter.
The popular winter attraction will open in January with frozen slides, tunnels, sculptures, crawl spaces and an illumination trail. LED lights frozen in the ice will change color at night.
Guests can enjoy winter-themed alcoholic beverages at the ice bar, a new addition this year.
Construction on this year’s castle could begin this month depending on the weather. It takes a team of about 20 ice artists to build the castle by growing and harvesting icicles by hand, according to an Ice Castles fact sheet. The blend of icicle placement, temperatures, water volume and wind result in a variety of ice formations.
The castle is approximately one acre in size and is made of more than 25 million pounds of ice. Ice Castles ensures their sites are located next to a natural water source so the water returns to the environment in the spring.
This will be the Ice Castle’s eighth year in the Twin Cities and third in New Brighton. In previous years, the attraction has come to Eden Prairie, Stillwater and Excelsior. Ice Castles also has locations in New Hampshire, New York, Utah and Wisconsin.
The concept for Ice Castles came to life when founder Brent Christensen turned an ice cave for his daughter in his front yard into a neighborhood attraction
Tickets will be available starting Nov. 28. Pricing and hours are available at icecastles.com/minnesota.
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