Save the date: Thursday, Jan. 20 will mark the official beginning of construction for the 2022 Polar Fest Ice Palace in Detroit Lakes.
The palace, which is the city's largest and most ambitious such undertaking to date, will be unveiled on the official opening night of Polar Fest on Thursday, Feb. 11 at 7 p.m.
"To give you some idea, we harvested about 1,000 blocks of ice for the first Polar Fest Ice Palace back in 2018," said Hans Gilsdorf, principal designer for the annual winter spectacle. "For this one, we will be harvesting nearly 2,000 (blocks)."
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And while the height of the palace's central tower will be nearly identical to the 2018 structure, at 32 feet, it will cover much more ground space — about 4,000 square feet in all.
"The design of the central tower will be a near-replica of the 2018 palace," Gilsdorf added. "We just made it a little bigger."
The entire structure will measure close to 100 feet long and 36 to 40 feet wide (the width may vary a bit in spots). "It's about double" the size of the original, he said.
Some of the additions will include two 14-foot-tall fire cauldrons, to be fueled by propane gas, located inside the palace structure on either side of the central tower; and two "DL 150" ice sculptures, one located on each side of King Isbit's Throne. The multi-colored lights will also be located inside the palace, meaning they will be viewable from all four sides of the structure.
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There will also be a media desk, sculpted from ice, that people can use for making podcasts or other social media posts as well as live broadcasts for regional TV news outlets. The desk will be similar to the first one, constructed in 2019, Gilsdorf added.
Another new feature of King Isbit's Royal Playground will be an ice maze in the city park, designed and constructed by "MN Sn'Ice" committee members Jack Davis and Lance Akers. The ice maze will replace the sledding hill this year, Gilsdorf said, because the committee wanted to try something new — and a little easier to maintain.
"The ice maze will be lit up, too," said MN Sn'Ice committee member Carrie Johnston.
The courtyard and playground area will include a variety of other snow and ice sculptures, as well, including some constructed by local high school students — in a competition set for Feb. 16 — and others by professional ice sculptors from the Twin Cities, who will be making the trip up to Detroit Lakes for a competition set to take place Feb. 10-13.
One more addition to all the snow and ice sculptures will be a special presentation of the #OnlyInMN monument by Explore Minnesota, hosted by the MN Sn'Ice committee.
"It's a 40-foot monument," said Johnston, adding that it would be displayed near the ice palace. "It travels all around Minnesota, though this will be the first time it's in Detroit Lakes."
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The Fandazzi Fire Circus , which was a big hit during the 2019 festival, will be returning for a second time, Johnston said. The Twin Cities-based performers will present two shows on Saturday, Feb. 12, at 6 and 9 p.m. This year's performances will both take place at the City Park Bandshell, with the fireworks display set to take place in-between, at 7 p.m. on the City Beach.
Another event returning this year is the Becker County Museum's exhibit on the Becker County ice harvesting industry, which will open at the Pavilion on Jan. 20-21 and be open each weekend of Polar Fest.
Lanterns will be placed around the ice field during the harvesting process, Johnston said, noting that there would be a total of 15 lanterns lit each night — "one for each decade" of Detroit Lakes' 150-year history.
For more information, visit the iceharvestdl.org website, or check out their Facebook page for updates.
