NORTH WOODSTOCK, NEW HAMPSHIRE — Ice building festivals are being held again each year in New Hampshire and several other states.
A temporary art installation and tourist attraction, the Ice Castle features towers, tunnels, archways and caves created by growing, harvesting and arranging thousands of icicles and then blasting them with sprinklers.
The company behind the display has expanded since its first installation in 2011. This year, the company is operating out of two locations in Utah, Minnesota and Colorado and New Hampshire, and those sites include a snow tubing hill and ice bar. After a mild winter last year, officials were pleased that temperatures were cold enough to open early this season.
“This is one of the largest ice castles we’ve ever built,” said Jared Henningsen, the company’s vice president of operations. “We’re looking at about 25 million pounds of ice spread out over two acres.”
As winter storms brought cold, wet snow to the South, visitors to a New Hampshire castle flocked Friday to explore its twists and turns.
Julia Jones, from Gloucester, Massachusetts, said she travels to northern New Hampshire several times a year but had never experienced an ice castle until her opening day visit.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” she said. “Honestly, I had no idea it would get this big.”
Jessica Sullivan of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, was also surprised by the frozen conditions. Her boyfriend, Brian Jacques, proposed to her during her visit.
“It’s a very beautiful place.” said Jacques, who got the “yes” he was hoping for. “I definitely thought this was the time and place to do it.”
During the day, walls and other structures glow a pale blue. As darkness falls, the lights embedded in the ice glow in pink, purple and green.
“Once you enter the ice castle, it’s completely immersive and transforms most guests into something unlike anything they’ve ever seen,” Henningsen said. “I think it inspires people.”
