Ice Castles attraction brings frosty fun starting today

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/01/2018 (2974 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeggers battling cabin fever might find a new cure at The Forks.

On Friday, the ice sculpture extravaganza Ice Castles opens to the public at 4 p.m.

At a preview Thursday night, visitors were greeted by “enchanted princesses” with smiles frozen on their faces, who posed for photos inside the life-size fairytale playground.

Artisans have spent the last four weeks dripping, shaping and hand-placing icicles to create the interactive attraction. It features ice-carved tunnels, fountains, slides, frozen thrones and spiraling towers embedded with colour-changing LED lights that twinkle to music at night.

A fire-breather and a fire hula dancer put on a show for shivering passersby. Visitors took selfies on an ice slide with a tunnel that spits riders out into a pile of snow. The castles are made of solid ice but the walkways are soft, with ankle-deep, churned-up snow.

The first day of the icy spectacle should be a frigid affair, with Environment Canada expecting it to feel like -37 C with the windchill.

The weekend weather will be much warmer — relatively speaking — with highs of -12 C Saturday and -8 C Sunday. Closer-to-normal temperatures are expected Monday and Tuesday, with daytime highs of -7 C and -14 C.

Tickets to Ice Castles are less expensive if purchased online: Friday through Sunday tickets are $16.95 for those 12 and up, and $11.95 for children ages four to 11. Walkup tickets are $20 and $15, respectively.

Monday through Thursday tickets are $12.95 for 12 and up, and $9.95 for ages four to 11, if purchased online. Walkup tickets are $17 and $13, respectively, for those days.

The “enchanted ice princesses” will pose for photos with guests inside their frozen palace on weekend afternoons from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. The fire shows run from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

This isn’t the first time The Forks has played host to an ice sculpture extravaganza.

Two winters ago, the Great Ice Show was held during an early thaw. The event was modelled after a massive ice festival in Harbin, China, and brought in Chinese ice sculptors and cost local promoters $500,000 to stage.

The Utah-based company behind the Ice Castles attraction at The Forks is building similar structures in five other locations in North America: Midway, Utah; Dillon, Colo.; Stillwater, Minn.; Edmonton; and Lincoln, N.H.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca