EAGLE RIVER – Eagle River’s annual ice castle is now completed, culminating a week of preparation and construction. 

            Members of the Eagle River Area Fire Department, helped by many community volunteers worked throughout the weekend to finish the job. Earlier, about 2,500 blocks of ice had been cut out of nearby Silver Lake and trucked to the construction site in downtown Eagle River on Railroad Street.

            C.H. Hanke built the city's first ice castle back in the 1920s -- a tradition that has been carried on by his grandson, Jack Thomas, who designed this year's version. Thomas has been with the fire department for 51 years. This is the first appearance of the ice castle in three years. In 2009 and 2008, warmer temperatures prevailed and the ice development was not sufficient.

           The ice castle is visited by locals, motorists and tourists and coincides with events leading up to the annual snowmobile racing championships held at the Eagle River Derby Track.

            The cool façade, appears both transparent and opaque, depending on the light and view, and varies in shape and size each time it’s built, making it a favorite of photographers, day or night when decorative lights cast a colorful glow.