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SAINT PAUL WINTER CARNIVAL ICE PALACE OPENS JANUARY 22nd
Ice Sculptures Celebrate NHL All-Star Game and Grand Excursion 2004 SAINT PAUL ? The ice palace under construction for the Saint Paul Winter Carnival is on schedule and will open with great fanfare on Thursday, January 22, 2004. This traditional ten-day festival is being extended to three weeks to coincide with the 2004 NHL All-Star Weekend being held at Saint Paul?s Xcel Energy Center on Feb. 7-8. "Saint Paul is thrilled to showcase another ice palace," said Brad Toll, vice president of tourism for the Saint Paul Convention and Visitors Bureau. "This remarkable structure will certainly be an added attraction for the Winter Carnival but it will also make a huge visual impact for the entire world to see during telecasts of the NHL All-Star Weekend. We look forward to welcoming visitors from all over the world to the "coolest celebration on earth." The Winter Carnival Ice Palace will be located right across 7th Street from the Xcel Energy Center, home of the Minnesota Wild, the state?s NHL team. The palace will remain open to the public through Saturday, February 7, from 10 am to midnight daily. A concert, traditional storming of the palace and a fireworks finale following the NHL All-Star Game on Sunday, Feb. 8, will signal the conclusion of the 2004 Saint Paul Winter Carnival. This will be the first ice palace to be constructed in Saint Paul since the 1992 Winter Carnival, which still holds the world?s record as the largest ice palace to date. The 2004 ice palace will be the first since 1941 that will allow public access as well as special events. A favorite feature of the Winter Carnival is the elaborate ice and snow sculptures, carved by some of the world? top ice sculptors. This year, following the traditional single and multiblock sculpture contests in Rice Park, logos of all 30 NHL teams will be carved in ice and lit at night. A life-size sculpture of a trio of hockey players in action will also be set in the park. Across the street in Landmark Plaza, homage will be paid to Grand Excursion 2004, an incredible multistate event, which will celebrate the upper Mississippi and Saint Paul?s heritage as a river town and its role as the most northern port on the Mississippi. Grand Excursion 2004 celebrates the important role the river has played along the banks of the 54 participating communities. The capstone event will be the Grand Flotilla, a ten-day parade of steamboats and paddleboats, which will travel up the Mississippi from the Quad Cities of Illinois and Iowa to the Twin Cities of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, arriving the July Fourth weekend. The ice sculptures in Landmark Plaza will recreate the steamboats in the flotilla led by former President Millard Fillmore in 1854, which brought world-wide attention to Saint Paul and ultimately opened settlement into the Minnesota Territory. The Saint Paul Winter Carnival will be the official kick-off event for the yearlong Grand Excursion 2004 celebration. Detailed information on flotilla tickets and community events can be found at www.grandexcursion.com. The palace grounds will also feature an open courtyard with a hockey rink courtesy of the NHL, and will be surrounded by 12-foot ice walls. The 200-foot wide central wall of the ice palace will feature turrets, with the overall height reaching 75 feet, a design intended to compliment the mass of the Xcel Energy Center. Visitors will experience water fountains, fire caldrons, ice thrones and sound and light shows. "Visitors to Saint Paul or viewers from around the globe watching the NHL All-Star game on television will appreciate the pride and excitement Minnesotans have for their State of Hockey," said Toll. "The Winter Carnival ice palace, the Grand Excursion ice sculptures and the All-Star Weekend make Saint Paul the winter destination of 2004!" For more information on the Saint Paul Winter Carnival, NHL All-Star Weekend or Grand Excursion 2004, contact the Saint Paul Convention and Visitors Bureau at 800-627-6101 or 651-265-4900 or visit www.visitsaintpaul.com. To obtain slides or digital images of photos please contact Pat Laurel, Publications and Graphics Coordinator at 800-627-6101 x 4921 or visit our web site at www.visitsaintpaul.com.