Union volunteers building Super-sized ice palace in St. Paul (photos)

Building Trades volunteers are building the city’s most ambitious ice palace in over a decade.

Construction of the 4,000-block, 70-foot tall structure began last week, and it’s on track to wrap up before the St. Paul Winter Carnival begins its 17-day run Jan. 25. Festival organizers anticipate Super Bowl visitors will flock to Rice Park for a look.

As it has in recent years, the St. Paul Building and Construction Trades Council is supplying labor for construction of the Winter Carnival Ice Palace. Most of the work involves unloading, stacking and securing 500-pound blocks of ice, harvested earlier this month from a lake near Spicer, Minn.

Members of several unions will march together in the Winter Carnival’s King Boreas Grande Day Parade. Click here for more information the Jan. 27 festivities.

Terry Wong (R) watches an ice block take flight with other volunteers.

Dick Kentzelman, a retired Bricklayer, shaves down an ice block – an example of how work on the Winter Carnival palace allows volunteers to step out of their element. “It’s out of the ordinary for anyone in the trades to be using a chainsaw on the jobsite,” longtime volunteer Terry Wong said.