Popular Minnesota Winter Event On The Move To New Location

In what has become a winter tradition for many Minnesotans, the Ice Castles frozen attraction will be returning to Minnesota once again this winter. The 2024-2025 season will see the event move to a new venue, just announced by its organizers.

Over the years, the Minnesota Ice Castles have seen a number of different homes over the years. Moving around the Twin Cities area, it has been hosted at places like the Mall of America in Bloomington, Stillwater, Eden Prairie, Excelsior, New Brighton, and last year it was in Maple Grove.

This year, Minnesota's Ice Castles are once again off to a new home, this time at a destination familiar to many Minnesotans - and others around the country.

Here's what to know about the upcoming winter of 2024-2025 Minnesota Ice Castles:

Where will this winter's Minnesota Ice Castles be?

Organizers announced today that the 2024-2025 event will be hosted at the home of the Great Minnesota Get-Together! Using about one acre of space at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds, crews will construct this winter's reaction once the weather gets cold enough to do so.

The event's website explains it will be hosted at 1750 Randall Avenue, which is just a couple of blocks off Snelling Avenue and just north of the Grandstand.

Parking for this year's event will be offered for free in the Fox Lot, which is near where the Ice Castles will be constructed. The suggested entrance is through Gate 3/Hoyt Gate.

What will be at the 2024-2025 Minnesota Ice Castles?

Some of the popular features that have made this event as memorable as it has become will be returning as they build in a new location this year.

The whole "ice castle" will be built from ice with color-changing LED lights, giving guests the opportunity to tour this magical and literally cool attraction with plenty of things to take pictures of during your visit.

Things like ice slides, caverns and archways, ice sculptures, and crawl tunnels will give people of all ages plenty to see and do during a visit. On top of that, the "Polar Pub" ice bar will offer winter-themed alcoholic beverages for the adults will be available too.

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Organizers note that all of the features are contingent on the weather cooperating for crews to be able to construct them out of ice and for them to remain safe for visitors. After last winter's warm and generally snowless winter, hopes are high that this winter will be more friendly to the event.

When will the Minnesota Ice Castles open?

Organizers say they plan to start construction in November. The attraction generally opens sometime in early January and remains open until the end of February or the beginning of March, all of which is heavily dependent on the weather.

We'll keep an eye on things and let you know once an opening date is announced!