St. Paul Winter Carnival - 1992 Ice Palace

©1991 Saint Paul Winter Carnival

Here are three postcards of the 1992 St. Paul Winter Winter Carnival Ice Palace--or Castle or Structure. Each of these three postcards used a different name, but the preferred name is Palace. According to a "Fun Fact" on the St. Paul Winter Carnival website: "Since a Palace is looked upon as a home to royalty, we have always used the word Palace vs. Castle as many people associate the word castle as a negative, like Dracula's Castle."

The second postcard has this information on the back (the actual numbers vary depending on the source):

This magnificent ice structure reaches a height of 166½ feet and weighs an estimated 15 million pounds. This is the largest ice structure in the world and was constructed from 18,000 giant blocks of ice. It is located on Harriet Island which is across the Mississippi River from downtown Saint Paul.

Photo by Sky View Photos of America. Pub & © NMN Inc .

At night the Ice Palace was illuminated by a light show designed and executed by Frattalone and Associates:

On cold January evenings, a spectacular ten minute animated light and sound show with a specially produced soundtrack followed by 20 minutes of slowly changing colors illuminated the 1992 St. Paul Winter Carnival, leaving a lasting impression for years to come.

Photo ©Kevin McDaniels

Unfortunately the weather during the 1992 Winter Carnival (January 22 - February 2) was much warmer than usual. It wasn't cold enough to prevent premature melting of the ice and the early removal of the lights. The video below shows TV news coverage of the Ice Palace and the weather at the time.