Under brilliant, sunny skies with an air temperature of 14 degrees, State, County and local officials, representatives from the Lake George Regional Chamber of Commerce, local business owners and members of the press gathered in Lake George’s Wood Park Wednesday to cut the ribbon on the County’s newest attraction, Ice Castles.
After several weeks of construction, a process that requires ice artists to place by hand thousands of icicles, the winter wonderland of ice towers, tunnels, caverns and slides opened January 23. Ice Castles will be open through February or later, depending on the weather.
To date, ice artists have used 2.5 million gallons of water creating 10,000 icicles a day. The event has already sold 57,000 tickets and organizers expect total attendance to reach 90,000.
Lake Luzerne Town Supervisor Gene Merlino, in opening remarks, noted the high volume of inquiries about the event: “The CVB Boards and the Tourism Department — the phone doesn’t stop ringing…We’ve had people here from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, even India — a couple came from India! They were here on vacation and stopped to see this.”
Speakers at the ribbon-cutting ceremony expressed enthusiasm for the attraction that, added to the region’s winter sports, Winter Fest and Winter Carnival, will help grow winter tourism to make the Lake George area a year-round destination. “You wouldn’t think that you could cram even more beauty around here,” says New York State Senator Dan Stec, “then you come here and you see an ice Taj Mahal, right here, in the Village of Lake George.”
Ice Castles is open six days a week, closed Tuesdays. Tickets are available online at the Ice Castles New York website. They are selling out quickly. Wednesday, February 2, is Locals’ Night. Warren County, New York residents may purchase tickets on-site at a discounted price.
AMAZING!!