Howard Lestrud
ECM Online EditorSome of the worldís most creative union craftsmen have put the finishing touches on another St. Paul ice palace that will draw attention from people around the world.
The palace is the 18th associated with the Saint Paul Winter Carnival in its 118th year.
ìA Legacy in Ice.î is the theme surrounding the opening today (Thursday).
Admission is by purchasing a Winter Carnival button with coupon at $5. Children under 5 are free.
Winter Carnival buttons can be purchased in Forest Lake at SuperAmerica 4370 1086 W. Broadway Ave., and Cub Foods 2013 W. Broadway Ave.
A 7-year dream
ìThis creation has been a dream for many of us since 1997,î said 2004 Saint Paul Winter Carnival Ice Palace co-chairman Gil Thoele. A former King Boreas, Thoele lighted the last major ice palace in St. Paul, the one located on Harriet Island in 1992 as part of Super Bowl festivities.
Thoele, former owner of Thoele Printing, St. Paul, has been a man of action since Sept. 8. He keeps a cubicle at the printing firm and makes sales contacts but in recent weeks admits the palace has been tantamount to his long array of tasks.
The printing firm has been in the Thoele family for 84 years.
Thoele first became associated with the Winter Carnival as a guard in 1971 and later became a prime minister.
Proud that this structure is being constructed mainly on a ìpro-bonoî basis, Thoele believes more than 1 million spectators will visit the palace from Jan. 22-Feb. 7. The palace is located at Cleveland Circle on the corner of Fifth and Seventh Streets in downtown St. Paul, just north of the Xcel Energy Center where the National Hockey League All-Star game will be played on Feb. 8.
All-volunteer help and in-kind contribution of materials are being used, as was the case with the 1986 Ice Palace on Lake Phalen.
Due to warmer temperatures in December, the ice harvesting necessary for construction of an ice palace was greatly delayed at Lake Phalen. Once it got under way in early January, the harvest sent thousands of morsels to the palace site.
The completed palace will contain 27,000 blocks of ice, each weighing 500 pounds.
Walk-through site
The 2004 palace will be the first palace allowing visitors to walk through it since the palace of 1941. Guests may physically enter and experience the Palace Grounds and Courtyard from within.
Guests also will be able to watch skating on an ice rink last seen at the 1938 palace. The rink and ice-making plant is 85 percent to scale of a National Hockey League rink and is the one used in Canada earlier this winter for an NHL exhibition outdoor all-star game that drew more than 57,000 spectators.
The ice palace wonít be the biggest or tallest ever built but it will be unlike anything the city of St. Paul has experienced before. A partnership was formed with the Minnesota Wild and the National Hockey League to celebrate winter with the Winter Carnival event.
Nationally recognized architectural and engineering firm of SLL/Leo A. Daly is responsible for the design of the Ice Palace. Dalyís team of volunteer designers have been working with the St. Paul Festival & Heritage Foundation since 2000 to create the ìremarkable and thoughtful design,î Thoele said.
Dalyís volunteer designers have spent countless hours of their own time creating this year's spectacular design. Leo A. Daly is an internationally renowned planning, architecture, engineering and interior design firm based in Omaha, NE. The Twin Cities office of Leo A. Daly is one of the oldest full-service architecture and engineering firms in the state.
Work speeds
Temperatures in the 20s last week provided workers with almost ideal conditions to put a face on the ice palace. The better weather also made ice harvesting an easier task.
Keith Soderbeck of Local 87 and Frank Gurney of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers said much of the work is on schedule. Both expressed amazement and gratitude for the many union workers volunteering time for the project.
Gurney said he was involved with palaces constructed in 1986 and 1992. He says this one has over 11,000 feet of electrical conduit in the ground. Gurney related that the palace will have three 2500-amp trailers.
ìThey could wire 75 homes,î he said. In 1986, the palace had 400-amp power and in 1992 it was 1000-amp power. He estimated 10,000 manhours were logged on the electrical work up until a week before the palace opening.
Workers at Lake Phalen enjoyed sunshine last week but had to battle a chilling wind. The harvesting process at the lake resembled a logging camp with the ice chunks being sent down a water chute, up into a conveyor and through a device that smoothed edges and shaped the huge blocks to proper size.
After the ice blocks arrived by truck to the palace site, they were positioned in place and sealed by craftsmen wielding blow torches.
Unique features
Hereís some unique features of the palace:
ïUpon entering, visitors experience an innovative Water Fountain made of Ice and Fire.
ïThe Ring of Thrones gives individuals the opportunity to be photographed in the Ice Palace.
ï A wall of Ice, constructed in a herringbone pattern, surrounds the Palace grounds.
ïThe Ice Palace is approximately 240 feet along the base and constructed with five large turrets, the tallest of which will be 75 feet high.
ïVisitors enter the Palace Grounds through gates flanked by ice turrets 20 feet high.
ïEntrance to the Palace is through arched ice openings.
ïThe Ice Palace features an elaborate light presentation drawing on innovations in technology and lighting. The 2004 celebration will be punctuated with an up to $10 million audio, lighting and video show, orchestrated by Frattalone and Associates, a St. Paul-based company that specializes in professional entertainment systems, which also worked on the 1992 palace.
Public viewing of the palace is set from 7:30 p.m. to midnight on Thursday, Jan. 22 and from 10 a.m. to midnight daily through Feb. 7.
The 1992 ice palace attendance of 2.5 million visitors was the largest attendance in Minnesota history surpassing the annual Minnesota State Fair attendance. It also was recorded as the most photographed event in Minnesota history.
To follow progress of the Ice Palace and also to keep connected with Winter Carnival activities and events, go to the Winter Carnival Web site at http://www.wintercarnival.com.
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