Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Cathy DeDe, Chronicle Managing Editor
No “Castle” but a lot more open days and an ice rink — that’s what Ice Castles vice president Jared Henningsen told the Warren County Occupancy Tax meeting Tuesday about the firm’s third-year winter plan at the Festival Commons in Charles R. Wood Park, Lake George.
Mr. Henningsen was there to request a $150,000 bed tax grant to fund the newly reimagined, now “weather-resilient” attraction.
The centerpiece is a skating rink to be lined by “thousands of light displays,” Mr. Henningsen told the committee, plus igloos, ice sculptures, lighted paths and an Ice Bar. Given there’s not a castle, they’ve renamed the event “Winter Realm,” he said.
The rink alone will cost about $120,000 to install, and the total project will cost $450,000 to $460,000, he said.
This comes soon after the County approved a $3 million grant of Occupancy Tax reserve funds for the Warren County Winter Coalition. The group of business leaders, led by Fort William Henry president Sam Luciano, plans an interactive, immersive “Winter Experience” created by Moment Factory of Montreal at the Fort this season.
The Occupancy Tax committee voted in favor of moving the Ice Castle resolution forward to the full Board of Supervisors.
There was some discussion in committee over big-picture issues, including how the County spends its Occupancy Tax funds, dispersal and cash-flow.
County Treasurer Mike Swan said, after the $3 million awarded for the new attraction at Fort William Henry, the county has “about a half-million dollars” remaining in Occupancy Tax reserves.
Typically Occupancy Tax funds are payable after completion of the event, new County Tourism Director Heather Bagshaw said. In the case of Ice Castles, she said that would likely be next April.
She said also that she plans to revisit the rules around Occupancy Tax funding in general this year.
Mr. Henningsen told the committee Ice Castles expects to offer a discount to local residents, and to work with “the attraction next-door (Moment Factory), providing incentives for visitors to come to the region.”
He said 20,000 attendees is their “break-even point.”
Bob Blais, the former Lake George mayor, newly named Warren County-Lake George special events director, told The Chronicle separately, “They had over 40,000 people last year, even with the weather issues.”
Ice Castles received the maximum $50,000 in occupancy tax funding in its first year, but did not request funding last season.
Mr. Henningsen said they lost money in their first two seasons at Lake George.
The attraction was closed multiple days last season, especially, due to warm weather and rain that destroyed the ice.
Reimagined: Not castles, ‘Winter Realm,’ ice skating rink & igloos-plus
“We are passionate about this region that has been so welcoming. So we are bringing a new concept this year, that is new to our company,” Ice Castles vice president Jared Henningsen told Tuesday’s meeting of the Warren County Occupancy Tax Committee.
The new concept is “Winter Realm.”
He described it as “an evolution of the Ice Castles, but a weather resilient model more suited to the weather,” that combines “the best pieces of Ice Castles” with lighted attractions from another of their sister companies. Last winter Ice Castles had closures and other difficulties due to the weather.
The new centerpiece is an ice skating rink. It will be lined by “thousands” of light displays, Mr. Henningsen said.
“I like the idea of ice skating,” Bob Blais, the former Lake George mayor, now Warren County-Lake George special events director, told The Chronicle separately. “What they showed us was very exciting and beautiful.”
The rink will be cooled using glycol, a refrigerant that Mr. Blais described as “environmentally friendly.”
It’s “similar to what Rockefeller Plaza uses for its skating rink in New York City,” he said.
The attraction will also feature ice sculptures, to be housed inside igloos, insulated and covered with snow.
“They’re gonna melt,” Mr. Henningsen said straight-out of the sculptures.
“We will be sculpting every day to replace them.”
The Ice Bar will be back again, too, Mr. Blais told The Chronicle. It was “very successful” last year.
“There will be things like igloos for people to sit in or rent,” Mr. Blais added. “They’ll do the light show and pathways, very attractive ice sculptures to take photographs with. Everything will be lit up in the evening. People can enjoy the special features while skating.”
Skates will be available to rent.
It will fill the same amount of space as the Ice Castles did, Mr. Blais said.
He said he put on hold his separate effort to install a winter skating rink in the Beach Road parking lot, rather than compete with this newly revised attraction.
Testing concept in LG first
Mr. Blais told The Chronicle, this is something the Ice Castles company is trying first, here in Lake George.
“They think we have the greatest potential of traffic for it to work,” he said.
If successful, Mr. Blais said they aim to bring the same technology to their other sites in New Hampshire, Minnesota, Utah and Wisconsin.
“It should be a lot less labor intensive to build, which is good for them too.”
Open Thanksgiving to March
They’d originally targeted Dec. 1 as the opening date, but at Mr. Blais’s urging, Mr. Henningsen told the Committee, they will aim to open earlier, on Thanksgiving weekend, in conjunction with the Lite Up the Village event.
The plan is to stay open into March. — Cathy DeDe
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