Crews work hard to rebuild ice castles in Lake Geneva after mild weather
Much of the ice castles melted amid a mild January
LAKE GENEVA, Wis. -- A warmer than normal January has sidelined many winter activities, including the ice castles in Lake Geneva.
Now crews are working hard to build the glowing castles for the end of this week, WMTV reported.
"It's been a tremendous, like rise and fall of the castle, literally," one worker said.
The ice castles in Lake Geneva were scheduled to open on the final weekend of January. Now workers are racing to the adjusted opening of the first Saturday in February.
"Yeah, it's a bummer when it melts out, and we see all of our progress go away, but, you know, it always motivates us every year -- we look at as a challenge," another worker said.
Warm weather melted down most of the work building manager Alberto Huerta and his team accomplished.
SEE MORE: Opening of Lake Geneva Ice Castles postponed until February due to warm start to 2023
He said it is all part of the game when forced to rely on the weather to play nice.
"This year's been a little bit different as far as like we got, we shot up really quick. We're 20-feet tall like in five days. So usually we melt out to stakes and grass. This year was a little different. We had ice, but just different challenges with, you know, thinner bases and stuff like that that we had a compete with this year," Huerta said.
The crew has not let adversity wear down their collective spirit.
"You know, it's just having that determination. Morale gets kind of low at points when you see like the ice castle gets so big and then it drops down, and it's just that drive, like we're gonna get this thing done," one team member said.
Assistant Manager Colleen Anderson said the team is working at a historic pace.
"This year it's projected to be like, I think, 15 or 16 days, which will be the fastest in the company history of building like any ice castle," Anderson said.
Staff said everyone who had tickets for last weekend will get their money back, and the ice castles are expected to stay up now through the end of February, as long as weather allows.
