The Ice Castles will return to Lake Geneva for the fourth year and the third season at Destination Geneva National resort, organizers announced Thursday.
This year, they say, the castles will be bigger, with a "more immersive" design and will also offer sleigh rides.
The giant man-made ice formations include towers and caverns and integrate slides, crawlspaces, tunnels and fountains.
The specific opening date is weather dependent but they have typically been ready by the second half of January and usually remain viable through the end of February.
Ice Castles first appeared in Lake Geneva in 2019. They moved from the lakeside beach to the current location the following year. This year there are similar castles in Utah, Minnesota, New Hampshire and New York.
Work growing icicles to build the castles can begin as early as November and a team of upwards of 20 ice sculptors works for anywhere from eight to 12 weeks bringing them to life.
“We are excited to bring the magic of Ice Castles back to Wisconsin this winter with an expanded experience,” said Ice Castles' CEO Kyle Standifird.
“Our mission is to give people a place where they can escape from the hustle of daily life for a moment and step into a frozen fairy-tale world while creating a fun and safe outdoor experience.”
Tickets to will go on sale in December at icecastles.com.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
