Live Webcam of the 2004 Ice Palace
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/special_packages/winter_carnival/web_cam/
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Stillwater residents volunteer time and expertise to make ice palace a reality
http://www.stillwatergazette.com/story.asp?cat=NEW&story=6609
By CRAIG DIRKES
Staff Writer
ST. PAUL - Whether they've taken chainsaws to ice
blocks, wired sound systems or drawn blueprints,
several volunteers from Stillwater have donated
time and expertise to help build the first St.
Paul Winter Carnival ice palace since 1992.
By Tuesday, January 19, Stillwater resident Bob
Bielenberg, a retired electrician, had been
hooking up lights and a sound system for 25 days
straight. His volunteer work hasn't gone
unnoticed.
"Every time I come here I see (Bob)," Ice Palace
Co-Chairman Gil Thoele said on Tuesday at the
palace grounds, located just north of the Xcel
Energy Center here. "You just can't get rid of
the guy."
An International Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers (IBEW) Local 110 electrician of 18 years,
Bielenberg is no stranger to volunteering. He
helped found the St. Croix Valley Athletic
Association in the late 1960s. The organization
continues to sponsor local youth athletic
programs and receives annual assistance from more
than 1,000 volunteer coaches, umpires and other
officials.
"Volunteering is something I've always done," Bielenberg said.
The "most enjoyable thing" about working on the
ice palace, he said, "is the different people you
get to work with. ... Total variety."
Design
When standing before the ice palace's 27,000 icy
bricks, 75-foot main tower and mighty 20-foot
turrets, keep in mind that 14-year Stillwater
resident Frank Anderson led the palace's design
team.
A project manager and architect for SLL/Leo A
Daly - an engineering and architectural firm that
has helped produce such Twin Cities landmarks as
the Foshay Tower and Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
- Anderson, fellow architects and about 15 of his
firm's civil, mechanical, electrical and
structural engineers all volunteered to make the
ice palace a reality.
"And when I say volunteer," Anderson said, "I
mean we spent our own time - Saturdays, Sundays
and (weekday) evenings. To my knowledge,
everyone had a blast doing it."
Anderson's 16-year-old daughter, Kristina, also
helped on the design team, as did a University of
Minnesota college student studying architecture.
The budding architects helped "broaden planning,"
Anderson said.
Kristina Anderson now sees skyscrapers in a whole new light.
"When you see a building, you only see what's in
front of you," she said, "but you don't get to
see what it took to make it. This was a real
learning experience. ... I loved it."
Despite the long hours, Frank Anderson marvels at
the soon-to-be-finished project.
"More people have been willing to donate their
time - this thing has just been phenomenal to
watch," he said. "It's just incredible."
Lights and power
When gazing wide-eyed at the palace's brilliant
light display - which has enough juice to power
about two and a half major-chain grocery stores,
and will cost about $32,000 over three weeks -
keep in mind that 20-year Stillwater resident
Leonard Deeg helped wire it.
The president of St. Paul-based Collins
Electrical, Deeg is a St. Paul Heritage and
Festival Foundation board member. He coordinated
financial contributions and volunteer efforts for
the palace from his company, the IBEW and the
National Electrical Contractors Association.
"The best part of all this happened today, when
it really began to look like what we designed,"
Deeg said on Monday, January 19. "We spent months
planning and sat in meetings saying 'Let's do it
this way' - a hockey rink here, a fountain there,
a stage here. It's really coming together."
Deeg and about a half dozen Collins workers began
prepping the palace's electrical system in
September. For five weeks, they ran about 35,000
feet of cable and 15,000 feet of conduit
underneath the parking lot of what is now the
palace site. And although Deeg's crew and dozens
of IBEW volunteers were not scheduled to return
to the site until most of the ice blocks were in
place, those plans changed.
"The biggest challenge is that we had trouble with the timeline," Deeg said.
Builders had aimed to begin work on the palace on
Dec. 10, but couldn't begin harvesting ice until
St. Paul's Lake Phalen froze to a depth of 12
inches. That didn't happen until Jan. 2.
The late-freeze setback forced electrical
personnel to work in three-shift days right
behind construction workers. But by working
together, the problem was solved.
"The IBEW really pulled this project together,"
Deeg said. "It's a real brotherhood. It's amazing
to see how you can count on these guys."
Behind schedule at noon on Monday, Deeg learned
that electricians were needed to work through the
night. "By 2:30 p.m., we had nine volunteers," he
said.
Even Deeg's father, Pete, volunteered as an electrician.
"My mom (Ruth) said she's been married to dad for
50 years," Deeg said, "and when he came home from
his first day of volunteering that first
six-below-zero day, it was the happiest she's
ever seen him.
"There's something to be said about volunteering," he added.
Preparations
Neither construction nor planning has been easy.
Thoele approached Anderson in 1999 about
designing a palace, but plans at that time and
over the next few years never quite "got off the
ground," Anderson said. Thoele and his colleagues
approached Anderson again in 2002.
"They said 'Let's shoot for 2004 - that'll give
us two years to really get it planned and
organized,' " Anderson recalls.
One problem - it wasn't until after planning the
palace began that the NHL named the Xcel Center
the site of this year's NHL All-Star game.
Originally, organizers had planned to build the
ice palace across the street in an Xcel Center
parking lot.
But as luck would have it, when Thoele and other
organizers approached Xcel Energy officials, Xcel
was willing to work in partnership. Others who
planned with Thoele include fellow co-chairman
David Crary, and St. Paul Festival and Heritage
Foundation President Bob Viking.
Anderson helped develop this year's ice palace theme - "A Legacy of Ice."
"We looked for those pieces of other palaces that
we could carry forward and bring back again,"
Anderson said.
This year's design, according to information
posted on the palace's Web site
(www.2004icepalace.com), "represents myths and
fantasies surrounding the change from the deep
cold of winter to the warmth of emerging spring
as represented by ice, fire and water. The 2004
palace embraces ideas and concepts from previous
palaces, yet brings its own unique style and
elements."
Designing the ice palace, Anderson said, was
different than designing school buildings and
telecommunications facilities - his usual
projects -
but "too much fun to be hard."
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