With warm weather on the way, Saturday will be the final day to visit the ice castle in Hawrelak Park.
The massive winter wonderland opened to the public on Jan. 5, after a bit of a delay due to roller-coaster weather in December. The company behind the attraction had originally hoped to open in late December.
Even with the later opening date, the castle was open longer this year than in previous years, when the castle closed in February.
While exact attendance numbers aren’t yet available, tens of thousands of people visited the massive castle this year, according to the company behind the structure. Christian Denis, the lead artist for the Edmonton ice castle, said it was a “very successful year for traffic.”
READ MORE: Edmonton’s Ice Castle opening delayed by December temperature roller-coaster
While the weather has been challenging over the past eight weeks, the artists have worked with Mother Nature and said the freeze/thaw cycles actually added character to the castle.
“There’s no doubt. That’s kind of the name of the game. That’s what gives us some of the creations that we end up with,” Denis said Thursday.
“It ended up eventually creating some really unique creations, really cool formations we hadn’t seen before.”
Watch below: Take a look at the 2018 version of the Edmonton ice castle
READ MORE: Welcomed by some, warm December weather proving difficult for Edmonton winter attractions
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Fire performers from Insphyre Performance will be on site to go out with a bang on Friday and Saturday between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m.
This was the third time the castle was created in Hawrelak Park. While nothing has been confirmed yet, Denis said it looks like they’ll be back next winter.
“There’s no reason not to. Edmontonians and everyone around has been really embracing it so there’s no reason not to.”
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