Are Ice Palaces the New Pumpkin Patches?
It happens like clockwork: As soon as Thanksgiving is over—or, if you're really excited, Halloween—most people automatically go into full-blown winter holiday mode. They deck their halls with boughs of holly (and then some). They bust out their dreidel for a few practice rounds before Hanukkah kicks in. They pore over rows of Douglas Firs and White Spruces to find *the* perfect Christmas tree. And, who knows? Maybe they'll swing by a mall to snap a selfie with Santa. Then it's January and the party's over, but the frigid season lingers on another couple of months.
The only solution to avoiding the winter blues is to lean into the chilly season in all its Frozen glory. And just like fall has photo-ready seasonal activities like apple-picking, and pumpkin patches, winter has its own photogenic good time: Ice palaces.
Unlike decorating a Christmas tree, ice palaces can be enjoyed all season long. And, despite being close to ice, thes sites don't require the athletic acumen that skiing, snowboarding, or ice skating do. (Translation: An ice palace for everyone.) Plus, in the age of Instagram and TikTok, the seasonal outing doubles as a photo-op.
These marvels of engineering aren't just a response to the Tik Tok and Instagram era; the first ice palace at the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival in upstate New York was erected in 1898, and they're still being made for the carnival, out of blocks of ice from the frozen lake. (This winter's carnival is February 2-11 and ends with fireworks over the ice palace.)
But the appeal of ice castles seems to be growing as they're popping up all over the country. The owners of the Ice Palace—a family-owned and operated company with locations in Minnesota and Idaho—feel its draw is quite simple. "We truly want families to continue to spend time in the beautiful outdoors even in wintertime," says Ice Palace CEO Kira Martin, who runs the company with her five siblings.
Since its founding in 2018, the Ice Palace has been making chilled castles that can be as large as large as a football field, depending on the location. The secret, according to Martin, lies in its patented method to create ice pillars that form the base of the structure.
"After the base structure is built, we then use an extremely intricate and sizable sprinkler system to spray during at the coldest times of the day and continue to build throughout the season," she explains. "As the ice grows it gets stronger and stronger and more resilient against warmer temperatures."
An entirely ice structure is a feat in itself—Martin says palaces have no non-ice reinforcements—but the decorative details and ample tunnels offer a photogenic finishing touch. "You definitely feel like you've stepped into another world when going through the ice palace," Martin adds. "The small beautiful intricacies are Mother Nature at work: Some of the ice formations created by mother nature look like flowers, mushrooms, or leaves." This year, the Ice Palace will open on an as-yet-unspecified day in December.
Meanwhile, Ice Castles—another palace purveyor with six locations from Colorado to New Hampshire—boasts an array of special features like slides, crawl tunnels, and a Polar Pub to enjoy a cold one. Similar to pumpkin patches, these winter wonderlands provide plenty to do besides touring these icy abodes. (For example, the Ice Palace also offers sleigh rides, character meet-and-greets, and "sugared moose mini donuts.")
But while ice palaces are certainly on the rise—Martin shared 70,000 guests visited her family's locations last year—she says this trend won't be an overnight sensation.
"This involves a patented creation method, and it's quite a challenging task to pull off," she says. "They might not pop up as quickly as pumpkin patches, but we love the idea and are committed to making it grow! Our goal is to continue to build Ice Palaces in the cold temperature cities throughout the United States."
A nation full of ice castles? Now that's cool.
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