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2018

Trees being cut down in Rice Park — but it’s not to make room for an ice palace

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Rice Park, the crown jewel of downtown St. Paul, is slated for a $2.35 million overhaul beginning this spring.
By FREDERICK MELO | fmelo@pioneerpress.com | Pioneer PressPark Construction Company workers unload 650-pound blocks of ice two at a time off a flatbed

St. Paul Winter Carnival Ice Palace construction is underway

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Chad O’Flanagan, left, and Taylor Dolan wth Park Construction Company muscle 650 pound blocks of ice off pallets at the site of the St. Paul Winter Ca, Media and St. Paul Winter Carnival dignitaries gather Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018, in Rice Park for a ceremonial groundbreaking where the Winter Carnival Ic, Park Construction Company workers unload 650-pound blocks of ice two at a time off a flatbed truck at the St. Paul Winter Carnival Ice Palace in Rice
By KATHY BERDAN | kberdan@pioneerpress.com | Pioneer PressIt’s official. A ceremonial groundbreaking on Tuesday morning marked the start of the 2018 S

Winter Carnival’s Klondike Kate 2018 will be chosen Wednesday

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Kristen Oster, center, of West St. Paul is named the 2017 Klondike Kate during at the Envision Event Center in Oakdale on Wednesday, Jan 11, 2017. (Pi
By KATHY BERDAN | kberdan@pioneerpress.com | Pioneer PressSeven women — including a mother and daughter — will compete for Klondike Kate 2018 on Wedne

St. Paul ice palace is born one block at a time on west-central Minnesota lake

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A Park Construction Co. employee monitors a recently cut block of ice harvested on Green Lake in Spicer, Minn., on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2018. The ice bl
By CAROLYN LANGE | Forum News ServiceSPICER, Minn. — Wearing ice-covered boots and wiping away icicles from beards and noses, a crew of about 40 peopl
Gideon Doty cuts ice to be removed from Green Lake Wednesday in Spicer. (Erica Dischino / Forum News Service)
“It’s going great. The people around town have been awesome,” said Mike Gutknecht, from Park Construction, the general contractor for the project in w
Ice floats in Green Lake waiting to be removed by harvesters Wednesday in Spicer. (Erica Dischino / Forum News Service)
Being part of a once-in-a lifetime Super Bowl event that would put their home community on the map convinced them to do it.On Monday, they cleared sno
A recently cut block of ice harvested from Green Lake moves along an ice harvesting machine made in the early twenty-first century in Spicer Wednesday
“The clarity is above all,” he said. “The blocks are blue. They are very pretty.”Working from sunup to sundown, the crew has three days to get the blo

Ice Palace construction starts with a good cleaning

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An area of Green Lake near Spicer, Minn., is cleared of snow Monday, Jan. 1, 2018, in preparation for ice harvest. About 4,000 blocks of ice will be c, A team of people from Park Construction, Park Avenue Trucking, Xcel Energy and Wee Kut will take part in the ice block project. (Courtesy of Darrin Jo, An area of Green Lake near Spicer, Minn., is cleared of snow Monday, Jan. 1, 2018, in preparation for ice harvest. About 4,000 blocks of ice will be c, St. Paul Winter Carnival royalty Lindsay Jo Sandoval, Aurora Queen of Snows, left, and Jason Bradshaw, King Boreas, reveal an image of the 2018 St. Pa, The design for the ice palace that will be built in Rice Park. (Courtesy of the St. Paul Winter Carnival), he ice palace will be built on the south side of Rice Park. (Courtesy of the St. Paul Winter Carnival)
By JAIME DELAGE | jdelage@pioneerpress.com | Pioneer PressA construction crew for the St. Paul Winter Carnival ice palace will begin cutting blocks of
The St. Paul Winter Carnival unveiled the design for an ice palace that will be built in Rice Park as part of the 2018 St. Paul Winter Carnival. The p

Donors stepping up quickly to make the Winter Carnival ice palace happen

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By KATHY BERDAN | kberdan@pioneerpress.com | Pioneer PressThe 2018 St. Paul Winter Carnival’s seven-story ice palace received a warm welcome when it w
The design for an ice palace that will be built in St. Paul’s Rice Park as part of the 2018 St. Paul Winter Carnival. (Courtesy of the St. Paul Winter
The People’s Ice Palace started to live up to its name after the plan was unveiled in the early afternoon. By 5 p.m. Thursday, the Winter Carnival web

Winter Carnival will have a seven-story ice palace, after all

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The St. Paul Winter Carnival unveiled the design for an ice palace that will be built in Rice Park as part of the 2018 St. Paul Winter Carnival. The p
By KATHY BERDAN | kberdan@pioneerpress.com | Pioneer PressThough plans for a massive, record-breaking ice palace for the 2018 St. Paul Winter Carnival
The People’s Ice Palace will be built on the south side of St. Paul’s Rice Park. (Courtesy of the St. Paul Winter Carnival)
People looking for a way to be part of the People’s Ice Palace can “buy a block.” Prices start at $25 and the sponsorships are available at wintercarn

21st Annual Cooler Crew Rehash Bash

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21st Annual Cooler Crew Rehash Bash
Sunday, February 11, 2018
Newell Park
900 Fairview Ave N
St Paul, MN 55104
12pm-4pm

We are pleased to announce the time and place of the 21st annual Cooler Crew Rehash Bash. Show up, bring a dish to share. Thanks to Allison Wonderland for setting it up.

There is a rental fee, which, with typical attendance works out to about 2 bucks a person, so if you have some to spare, donations to cover the fee are always appreciated!

20th Annual Cooler Crew Pre-Dig Gig

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20th Annual Cooler Crew Pre-Dig Gig
Joseph's Grill (in the banquet room)
140 South Wabasha Street
Saint Paul, MN 55107
6pm-close

Once again the annual Cooler Crew Pre-Dig Gig will be held at Joseph's Grill, in the banquet room, on Wabasha. 

The festivities begin at 6pm. As usual, we do have to spend $500 in food and drink at Joseph's for the room; with this group that won't be a problem though. The pasta bar will be available for us, for $17 tax and tip included, but it won't include salad.

We'll be taking a group picture at 9:00pm, with an additional picture taken at closing time. Tables will need to be moved for the group shot. Any help moving them back and forth is greatly appreciated. We will not be chasing people down to notify about the picture. However I may ask to use Joseph's intercom if possible. Don't forget to wear your best smiles (and Vikings gear) if you want. Let's warm up the winter with our Cooler Crew family photo.

As for the Park Pick Pool, we've changed it up a bit this year. Look for Allison Wonderland and the cash box at the Pre Dig. He'll be collecting money for the pool as well as money for the pasta bar. If you want to participate in the pool, he'll have pick slips with him. Take however many you think you might want. Each one allows you to pick a park and will cost you $5 when you turn it back into him. There are no restrictions on what park you can pick. You can even pick the same park multiple times or you can choose "Field" to cover all the parks no one else picked. Then make sure you put your name and some sort of contact info on it and give it (them) back to me with $5 (each).

You can make a pick at any time. There won't be any order to worry about. But once you have turned in a pick and paid your money, you can't change it (though you could make more picks). Also, you may not pick a regional park with the intention of covering multiple parks.

The way the prizes work is once the medallion is found, we will make a determination of what the winning park was. Then, depending on how many picks were made for that park, we will divide the pot that many ways. Consequently a favorite park like Como could have 10 picks for example and be divided 10 ways. A park like Newell might have 3 picks, in which case each pick gets a third of the pot. A dark horse park like North Dale might have only one pick and would win the entire pot if it was the right park. If you picked a park multiple times, you would get multiple shares of it (so if you had 3 of the 10 Como picks, you would get 30% of the pot).

We won't be posting how people have picked until after the sales have closed. So in addition to picking the park you think it will be at, you may also want to decide if you want to settle for a smaller share of a big park, or go for the long shot and win it all. Or maybe everyone will shy away from the big parks and you can be the only one to pick Como. That is the game we will be playing Saturday night.