Ice palace back on for 2018 St. Paul Winter Carnival

The St. Paul Winter Carnival will have an ice palace in 2018 after all. 

Plans for the ice palace were initially scrapped due to a lack of funding. But, organizers are expected to announce on Thursday the ice palace is back on. 

The 70-foot tall ice palace will be built in Rice Park. It will be free to the public. 

Organizers are calling it the "People's Palace" because part of the project will be community funded through the purchase of ice blocks, ranging from $25 to $50. 

The 2018 ice palace will be made of 4,000 blocks of ice--small in comparison to the last two ice palaces in 2004 and 1992 which consisted of 25,000 and 20,000 blocks respectively. 

The St. Paul Winter Carnival will be extended an extra week to coincide with the Super Bowl. It will run from Jan. 25 to Feb. 10. The ice palace is considered one of the main draws.