Lake Geneva Ice Castles open to sold out crowd

LAKE GENEVA, Wis. (WMTV) - The Lake Geneva Ice Castles opened for the first time for the 2023 winter season to a sold out crowd.

The visitors included families from Wisconsin and Illinois who said it’s a fun way to spend time during unpredictable winter weather.

Jim and Meredith Lane said the hardest part was securing tickets before they sold out.

”The first time slot I wanted sold out before I could even get into it,” Jim Lane said. “But otherwise, as long as you were (online) right then, as soon as they opened up, it wasn’t that bad.”

Jacquelyn Bazylewicz and her friends say they’ve tried to purchase tickets for three years.

”We logged on early, got our tickets and it’s exciting to see all of the ice castles,” Bazylewicz said. ”It’s crazy that it’s not melting. It’s hard to believe because even though we’re cold, it’s so much ice that it’s frozen still and it’s crazy to think that people made this happen.”

Event Manager Wally Bullard said January’s abnormally humid weather caused a delayed opening for the ice castles.

”Mother nature is our boss and so we build when it’s cold enough and we’re open while we can and once it gets to the point that it gets a little bit too warm then we have to start looking at what our last day will be,” Bullard said. " We’re not even there yet.”

Tickets can be purchased through February 20, 2023, but Bullard said it could stay open longer if the weather stays cold enough.

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