Ice Castle organizers hope to open by end of January

LAKE GENEVA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- With a little help from Mother Nature, the hope is to have the popular Ice Castle winter attraction in Lake Geneva open by the end of January.

"We're definitely, really hopeful for the last couple weeks of January," explained event manager Wally Bullard. "We're really, really happy with the products we got and the team we have; just waiting on the weather but we think we're here now."

A warm December wiped out some of the work the crew had already put in, however Bullard says the snow and freezing temperatures expected over the next few days are welcome for the crews as they continue to shape the ice into magnificent castles.

"We love those zero degree, negative five, negative ten degree nights," Bullard said. "We try to place all the ice during the day and then at night, we'll turn the water on and just kind of let Mother Nature take over in the afternoon and evening to grow. Then we'll come back in the morning and start all over again."

Bullard says to go from no ice to ready to go takes about three weeks.

Along with enjoying the castles, people will have the chance to take a horse-drawn sleigh ride this year.

An official opening date has not been announced at this time.