Ice Castles’ ice rink did major damage to park

By Cathy DeDe, Chronicle Managing Editor

The past winter’s Ice Castle event [officially, Winter Realms] did “a significant amount of damage” to the Festival Space at Charles Wood Park in Lake George, County Superintendent of Public Works Kevin Hajos told the Friday, April 26, meeting of the Facilities Committee. He distributed pictures.

“I don’t have the cost yet but I can tell you we had to put 176 hours of manpower into what we had to do to the park” after the event.

Mr. Hajos said ground under the ice skating rink “had raised, or heaved, eight inches above the existing ground,” and did not recede after the frost went out.

“I’ve never seen anything like that,” he said. “I had to rent a 130 ton roller to compact that material back down again. I certainly never expected that ice skating rink was going to do that. I can tell you I got it down, but it doesn’t look pretty at all.”

He said that after Ice Castles departed, their subcontractors caused “significant damage” removing rental containers by dragging the heavy bins through wet sod and soil. Two lamposts also were damaged.

“The entire ring road I had to re-base or put stone dust down. We had to replace a significant amount of sod.”

Where sod is replaced, an original sub layer of engineered turf that stabilizes and strengthens the surface is also removed, Mr. Hajos said, “and I don’t have the capability to replace it.”

“We’ve always had to do some type of repair but it seems to be getting worse,” Mr. Hajos said. He said the space in general “is starting to deteriorate. It’s become a lot of work for the Village and the County every spring” to repair, he said.

“This is so disheartening to see,” Queensbury At Large Supervisor Brad Magowan commented.

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Ice Castles “only sold 4,000 tickets to the skating,” Lake George Mayor Ray Perry said, “so they’re really considering what else they can do instead” — that it’s unlikely to be another skating rink next year. “It was a pilot program for them, because of the winters we’ve been having.”
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Mayor Perry said they’ve heard concerns about the park’s condition from early season events such as Adirondack Winery’s Wine and Food Festival.

He said, “I feel like…we’re gonna be back in shape for any first events that are coming” and noted the Festival space is fully booked with events this season, except one weekend due to a cancellation.

They’re booking into 2025, including a possible hot air balloon event, a German festival, and the return of the Jeep Invasion on Father’s Day weekend, 2025.

He said Americade “is fully back on track,” with “so many vendors signed on” they will use all the space they did pre-Covid.

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