Ice Castles is back for a ninth winter in Midway, allowing visitors to experience a walk-through art installation made of icicles.
The installation, which opened Saturday by the Homestead Resort, features ice-carved tunnels, fountains, slides, frozen thrones and towers of ice lit internally by LED lights coordinated to music.
Workers and artists spent five weeks growing the icicles that form the installation’s framework, harvesting them and placing them by hand. The site covers about an acre, and features an estimated 25 million pounds of ice.
Ice Castles LLC, the company behind the annual installation, is based in Utah. Midway is the company’s first location, and there are now Ice Castles installations in five other cities: Stillwater, Minn.; North Woodstock, N.H.; Lake Geneva, Wisc.; Dillon, Colo.; and Edmonton, Alberta.
The Midway site has become a winter staple for Utah visitors. It’s also been a choice location for music videos: In 2014, both The Piano Guys and Alex Boyé recorded covers of “Let It Go,” from the movie “Frozen,” and shot corresponding videos at Ice Castles.
The Midway location will remain open through the winter, until the spring melt. Hours are 4 to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 4 to 10:30 p.m. on Fridays, and noon to 10:30 p.m. on Saturdays. The installation is closed Sundays.
Fire performances are scheduled Fridays and Saturdays from 7 to 10 p.m. Snow princesses are on hand for photo ops on Saturdays, noon to 3 p.m.
Weekday admission is $10.95 for adults (12 and up), $7.95 for children 4 to 11. Weekend admission is $15.95 for adults, $9.95 for kids. Go to icecastles.com/midway for information and ticket sales.
