Ice Carousels

Did you know Ice Carousels were a thing? I did not until now.

I’ve heard about and seen the remarkable ice bars and ice sculptures but this is the first time I’m hearing about ‘Ice Carousels’.

Apparently, this is a big thing in the winter because there’s a World Ice Carousel Association, and world records are broken annually for the largest and fastest ones.

The objective of the association is to build Ice Carousels and have fun during the winter, at the same time informing about challenges, technology, and ice mechanics.

My favorite part about their website is this quote:

“Making an Ice Carousel is of course insane and dangerous, and I strongly advise against it. But if you despite this, make one, you can send basic details, pictures, and a video link of it to me and I will show it here on the site and you can feature your own Ice Carousel to the world.”

The declaration of this activity being insane and dangerous and advising against it is just funny to me.

Well, Mainers aren’t listening to that warning because coming up in April, a group is attempting to break the world record yet again.

Yes, Maine has already broken the world record for the Largest Ice Carousel but another state has taken the win recently.

World’s Largest Ice Carousel

The record for the world’s largest Ice Carousel is currently held in Minnesota with a Carousel that is 1,325 feet across, weighs 80,000 tons, and made 6 full rotations spinning continually for 20 hours.

The Northern Maine Ice Busters is planning on breaking this record on April 1 at the Long Lake Country Club, an event that is open to the public.

The group beat the world record in 2021 on Long Lake with a Carousel that was 1,234 feet in diameter and there are videos on YouTube showing the insane process.

This looks like an insane amount of commitment but also a cool experience worth a lot of bragging rights.

This also just doesn’t surprise me that this is what people are doing up in Madawaska.

Did you know this was a thing?!

Maine Winter-Related Records and Firsts

Here is a fun list of Maine winter records and some unique inventions that many may not know came from the Pine Tree State.

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