Ice palace canceled for 2018 St. Paul Winter Carnival, Super Bowl

Ice castle at 2017 St. Paul Winter Carnival

There will be no ice palace at the St. Paul Winter Carnival next year.

Plans for the ice palace were scrapped after the group working to build the structure announced Wednesday they could not guarantee enough funds to cover the cost of the project. The group, Ice Cold Events, needed to secure at least $5 million from sponsors to move forward for with construction.

“We were faced with a significant challenge and could not resolve it with the confidence that we could cover the costs of constructing and operating the ice palace,” Rosanne Bump, executive director of Ice Cold Events, said in a statement. “We needed to know we could pay our bills for what was a very complex project and just could not make that work.”

2018 St. Paul Winter Carnival will be extended for an extra week for the Super Bowl. The ice palace would have been one of the main draws.

Bump said past history was also a factor in the decision to cancel construction. In 1992, an ice palace was built on Harriet Island for Super Bowl XXVI, which was held at the Metrodome. But despite its popularity, the $1.1 million price tag led to the St. Paul Winter Carnival Association having to file for bankruptcy.

The 2018 St. Paul Winter Carnival will run from Jan. 25 to Feb. 10. Super Bowl LII is on Feb. 4.