Winter Wonder: Large Ice Castle Attraction Coming to Maple Grove
A big cold-weather attraction will make its debut in Maple Grove this winter.
Ice Castles LLC, a Utah-based company that specializes in building recreational ice structures, plans to construct an ice castle in Maple Grove.
The Maple Grove City Council approved the proposal on Monday night.
Last year, the company operated out of New Brighton. It also previously built ice structures in Stillwater.
The company plans to build an ice castle out of approximately 15 million gallons of water at a vacant city-owned site near Life Time Fitness. It’s also across the street from the Hennepin County Library.
“To call them castles is sort of an understatement,” said Joe Amerman, Maple Grove economic development coordinator. “It is a really elaborate physical space that they create. It’s interactive — there are tunnels and slides. There are different areas for gathering and potentially for concessions, so it’s quite an event.”
Ice Castles LLC, a Utah-based company that specializes in building recreational ice structures, plans to construct an ice castle in Maple Grove.
Ice Castle Expected To Make $3 Million Economic Impact
According to Greg Anzelc, executive director of Experience Maple Grove, the company is looking for a permanent home.
“We feel like as things go on here, this is an opportunity to bring a winter wonderland to Maple Grove,” Anzelc said. “We are excited to — I guess I would say — add something here in Maple Grove that will be a destination.”
The company expects to sell 100,000 tickets to the attraction between December and February.
Customers buy a ticket for a specific time slot when visiting the ice castles.
“We are also excited about the potential estimated impact, economic impact I should say, for our business community, which is conservatively estimated at $3 million,” Anzelc said. “So this would be quite a winter win so to speak, for our businesses including our hotels, restaurants, and shopping.”
The Maple Grove City Council voted unanimously to approve the project.
“This is really cool,” said Maple Grove City Council Member Rachelle Johnson. “I’m very excited for this… to make this not just a weekend but actually creating Maple Grove as a destination, it’s really exciting.”
