Goodbye, Ice Castles, hello, Winter Realms!
And .... goodbye, Winter Realms.
The same warm winter trend that led organizers to replace the popular Ice Castles at Geneva National Resort in Lake Geneva with Winter Realms this year, has forced closure of that event, too.
Warm weather prevented Winter Realms from opening until Jan. 26, and Thursday, Feb. 8 was its last day.
That's definitely an improvement over the final Ice Castles, which abruptly closed after just three days last year due to high temps.
“I am incredibly proud of our crew and their determination to build a spectacular event with all the hurdles Mother Nature has thrown at us this year,” said Ice Castles CEO Kyle Standifird.
“We hoped to stay open longer with our new event Winter Realms. We are taking our learnings from this season as we plan for 2025.”
Ticket holders for future dates will receive refunds.
After last year's extremely short run, Ice Castles decided it was time to try something new in Wisconsin, where you’d think a cold winter is nearly assured.
While the Ice Castles were planned again this year in Midway, Utah; Cripple Creek, Colorado; Maple Grove, Minnesota; and North Woodstock, New Hampshire, Lake Geneva and New York’s Lake George got the debut of the new event called Winter Realms.
Winter Realms is described by creators as, “a more weather-resistant winter experience.”
Winter Realms was projected to open in late December, but, again, warmth disrupted the schedule.
“Winter Realms will bring the magic of winter to our guests even when Mother Nature is less predictable,” said Standifird in announcing the new event late last year.
“Our commitment to innovation allows us to continue creating enchanting moments, proving that, even in the face of changing climate patterns, the spirit of winter can always be celebrated.”
The new winter event had the same towers, caverns and crawl tunnels as Ice Castles, but added a mystic light walk, igloos, ice and snow sculptures, a Polar Pub ice bar, a tubing hill, horse-drawn sleigh rides, ice slides and other features.
According to Ice Castles' Maren Timmerman, the ice-making process has been improved upon in an effort to help make the formations more durable in case of warm weather.
"Due to having to close the last few years given warmer winter weather, we updated our snow and ice making processes," Timmerman told me back in November. "By utilizing newer snowmaking technology, we can create snow at much warmer temperatures that we can make ice.
"This allows us to stockpile snow and create snow structures and then we can spray water on top to create ice. With the bottom layer of snow, we will have more thermal mass, and each layer of snow acts as an insulating blanket that helps to protect the snow and ice underneath it."
While that process appears to have been an improvement, it apparently is no match for the new Wisconsin winter.
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.
