LaBelle Lake Ice Palace opens in Rigby
A winter wonderland ice palace is now open right here in Eastern Idaho. All of the structures at the LaBelle Lake Ice Palace in Rigby are made entirely out of ice.
“We build ice logs, and then we use smaller ice pillars, and we put them together,” said Kira Martin, co-founder of the ice palace. “And we create a structure, and then we spray water on top of it and have it build and build, and the colder it is, the bigger it gets.”
Martin and her family started work on the ice Dec. 1. The ice palace thinned out a little due to the warm weather this past week; however, Martin’s father, Jim Youngstrum, has been hard at work keeping the ice solid and creating new structures.
“He’s been here till 3 a.m. a lot of mornings, because that’s when it’s the coldest, and that’s when he has to be out here,” Martin said. “He’s been figuring out the system and perfecting it. So we just have a lot of learning and just hoping for cold weather.”
This is the second year for the LaBelle Lake Ice Palace. It moved to Krupp Scout Hollow this year to have more space. While checking out the ice palace, visitors can also meet Elsa from the movie “Frozen,” sled and even go on sleigh rides through the woods.
“We wanted to create a magical place to go in the winter,” Martin said. “Winter is a time in Idaho where we all just want to stay inside and not do anything, and we need to really appreciate the beauty of winter.”
The LaBelle Lake Ice Palace is open from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. It is closed Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Sundays. You can find out more information on the LaBelle Lake Ice Palace website.
