Labelle Lake Ice Palace is open for their Fifth season

LABELLE, Idaho (KIFI)- For the past 5 years the Labelle Lake Ice Palace has been creating magical memories for families and now their icy doors have opened once again for the magic to continue. Saturday, December 17, was the first day of the season for the Ice Palace and everyone was excited by what they saw at the start of the season.

"They have some really unique crystals here, which I haven't seen when we've come in years, cause we're really excited to see the second level like they've had. But it looks really beautiful this year," said Kira Childs who came to the Ice Palace with her family.

Childs adds that part of her experience is seeing the magic of the palace take hold with her children. "it's very exciting, especially the littlest ones. It's a lot more magical for them. Seeing the characters around. They get really excited."

Something that Jim Youngstrom the owner of the Ice palace says they work hard at making a reality. "When you see people come in and especially the kids seeing the Yeti or Elsa on the reindeer, it's just makes the magic for them. And that's what makes it good for us to it makes it all worth it because it is a lot of work, but it's so worth it."

Youngstrom says that it was hard to make sure the magical setting was in place for opening but everything was ready in the nick of time. "We're like, are we gonna actually be ready for Saturday? And yeah, everything kind of came together trying to get a waterfall done, finished up the tunnels. We've got a big dome that's really cool with the acoustics and we got that finished and with good help. And yeah, so it just came together at the end a little bit worried about it, but it happened."

Something visitors to the Ice Palace took notice of. "It's really beautiful. You can tell there's a lot of hard work that was put into this and a lot of heart," said Anthony Foster.

Foster came with his family, he says part of why they were there was for their kids. "The main reason we came here was to honestly see the experience and the excitement on their faces."

He says as a family they like to create art and love to appreciate others as well. "We like getting out. And so this is a great way to get out with the kids and experience something and like, we're artists in the family, so we love seeing everybody else's art."

Youngstrom says they are excited for the season and what they hope to create as well. "There's nothing like it in the world, in my opinion, and I'm excited about what we're going to do next year. I'm already getting plans drawn up. It's going to be epic. It's got to be something that's never been probably in the United States ever with what we're planning on doing so." Youngstrom adds that currently the system they use to create the Ice palace has two different US Patents.

If you want to visit the Ice Palace this season you can find their hours and reserve tickets here.