Coolest Celebration on Earth in St. Paul, Minnesota: Winter Ice Festival

Every winter, St. Paul is transformed into a winter carnival playground, complete with giant ice sculptures, giant snow slide, sled dogs and and ice maze.

The Ice Festival will be running from January 26 to February 4, 2007. The ten day festival is filled with activity and entertainment for the entire family.

Harriet Island Regional Park in downtown Saint Paul (across the river from the Science Museum of Minnesota) will be "Winter Carnival Park", Happy visitors can ride down the giant snow slide, mush a sled dog team, get lost in the amazing ice maze, and warm up in the Minnesota Hot Dish Tent. the beauty of the snow and ice sculptures will be all around . These activities and more will be available on the island during the 2007 Saint Paul Winter Carnival.

Como Park Ski Hill will be a satellite venue hosting the KARE11 Winter of Fitness event, which will be held both weekends of Carnival. Activities will include: snowboarding, snowshoeing, downhill and cross country skiing at no charge

The Ice Festival is the stuff of legend:

According to Royal Legend "The King of the Winds" Boreas and his brothers cavorted over land and sea until they found Minnesota. After pausing the behold the enchanting beauty of a magnificent groups of seven gently sloping hills with the City of Saint Paul nestled within, Borea declared it an ideal place and made it the capitol of all his domains.

Boreas proclaimed a celebration, "There will be a carnival in old Saint Paul:

For ten glorious days, there was Carnival and joyous celebration in St. Paul with feasting, dancing, fun and frolic. King Boreas and the Queen on Snows reigned over the event. On the tenth day, the ice palace was relinquished to Vulcanus Rex, the god of Fire. Boreas and his queen returned to Olympus until the next year, why the frosty atmosphere of winter would again prevail.

Over 250,000 people are drawn to St. Paul, Minnesota to celebrate the Ice festival. There are over 75 events planned over the ten day period. The main attractions are the elaborate ice sculptures which are displayed. Teams compete with each other in creating the fabulous works of art in ice.