Ice Castles To Return To Minnesota This Winter

It may only be the first of November, but here's a cool event that'll almost make you look forward to winter: The Ice Castles are returning again to Minnesota.

Yes, that's right, the always-cool Ice Castles are set to return to the Land of 10,000 (Frozen) Lakes again this year. But this year, they're moving to a new location in Stillwater. (Previously, they'd been located at Miller Park in Eden Prairie.)

According to this CBS-Minnesota story, Minnesota's Stillwater location will be one of only five Ice Castle locations in the country. Other Ice Castles will also be located in Utah, Wisconsin Dells, Edmonton and New Hampshire.

The story says it takes about 4,000 hours of work to get the Ice Castles ready each year. That includes shaping the ice and embedding the LED lights in them. And while the story didn't list a firm start date, it said that organizers hope to have everything ready to go by late December this year.

That's if Mother Nature cooperates, though. Last year, we had an unusually warm stretch of weather in December that delayed the opening, and then a nice thaw in February which ended the Ice Castles' run early, as well.

My wife and me along with my brother and his family took a trek up to Eden Prairie to check it out last year-- take a look HERE.