The Minnesota Ice Festival at TCO Stadium in Eagan is back and bigger than ever. That's 18 months of planning coming to fruition.
We all know what happened last year," says Robbie Harrell CEO of Minnesota Ice about our winter that never got cold. "I looked at this and I said, we were gonna break a world record. We have to give it one more shot."
That shot will hopefully include a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records.
"Over 18,000 square feet. It's one and a half times bigger than the current world record," says Harrell. "We were gonna beat it by, you know, 10 to 20%. We really were gonna try to knock it out of the park."
And the amount ice being used?
"If we talk about it in semi trucks, you know, it's almost 40 semis," Harrell explains. "And when we talk about it in pounds, it's over two million."
Yes, that's an insane amount of ice, but to be expected when trying to crush a world record.
The event includes skating rinks, an ice slide, warming house, scavenger hunt and an ice maze.
"You're supposed to get lost, you're supposed to do the scavenger hunt, and at times you're going to have to walk much further away to get to where you want to go," Harrell says. "That's the point of mazes, you gotta walk backwards to get forwards. There are ways that you can figure out where you're going, and you'll work your way out at some point."
The doors open Friday at 4:00 p.m. and the festival will run Thursday through Sunday for the next six weeks, as long as the weather cooperates. You can get more information here.