The city kicked off its 100th birthday year in a really big way in 1988: by building a really big ice castle on the north shore of Lake Cornelia.
The 46-foot square structure stood 25 feet high, and required a team of 81 volunteers working 2,344 hours over a period of 35 days to complete.
The castle was part of Edina’s year-long centennial celebration, featuring a variety of monthly events and programs, that included everything from an original play, a bridal fashion show, quilt show, birthday cake decorating contest and a Founder’s Day party
The ice castle was dreamed up by then parks director Bob Kojetin, who took two weeks’ vacation to lay nearly every one of the 3,222 blocks of ice on the structure himself. Bill Bryan led the team that cut the 18x18x12-inch 125-pound cubes from Lake Cornelia, and parks employee Andy Anderson used heavy equipment to lift the blocks in place.
The structure’s design, created by Edinan Foster Dunwiddie’s architecture firm, was loosely modeled after Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh—a fitting tribute since Edina took its name from the Scottish city. (Well, actually the community named itself after the Edina Mill, which was named after Scottish miller Andrew Craik’s birthplace. But that’s another story….)
Crews worked from January 7 to February 10 to complete the castle. Even Minnesota doesn’t stay cold forever, however. Warm temperatures forced the Centennial Commission to demolish the castle on February 19, when, as organizers phrased it, the ice castle “melted into history.”
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How should Edina celebrate its 125th birthday in 2013? To offer ideas or get involved, contact the Edina 125 Commission via email.
