Northwoods Adventure: Ice Preparations for Ice Fest at Breezy Point Resort

The warm winter conditions have taken the lakes more time to freeze over this year.That has raised questions about whether the ice is safe enough for the early January winter ice festivities like ice fest in breezy point.

If you were to ask Ice Fest committee member Mark Neva if the 20th Annual Ice Fest in Breezy Point was going to happen three weeks ago, his answer would have been a little different than it was today.

Due to the mild temperature this winter, ice making hasn’t been easy and that’s not the ideal situation for ice festivals beginning the new year.

The lack of ice has caused difficulties for the grounds-keeping crew at Breezy Point who creates the 75 by 150 foot long rinks used for pond hockey.

The ice is currently eight inches thick and they hope to get into that ten to twelve range come this weekend where cars are allowed to drive on. But, they won’t have the eighteen inches they had hoped for to have their snowmobile races.

In the last week, cooler nights have made the ice making process easier as well as the lack of snow known to create slush. With opening night of the Ice Fest just three days away the plan is to take advantage of the cooler temps and get rid of the ices imperfections.