A palace made of ice is the centerpiece of one Adirondack community’s annual winter carnival.
Each winter volunteers build an ice palace from thousands of massive blocks of ice for the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival — which this year runs through Sunday, Feb. 15.
The carnival dates back to 1897 and the ice palace build was added in its second year.
This year’s palace was made of roughly 2,400 ice blocks and opened to the public on Feb. 7, said Ice Palace Chairman Joe Plumb.
The structure was built by a team of community volunteers, starting in mid-January. Ice is harvested from Pontiac Bay in Flower Lake, moved to the shore and assembled according to blueprints.
Volunteers handle ice and snow in bitter cold temperatures and inclement weather conditions.