To the editor:

This year I was again privileged to be able to supervise the building of our Ice Palace. As usual, there are many people and organizations to thank for making it possible.

To start at the beginning, this year the weather was not with us when we needed it. Prior to building, we cleared the ice field, then got several inches of wet, heavy snow. This prevented us from plowing as the snow created slush on top of the ice. Up to this point, Dan Trim and I had been plowing using his four-wheeler and the four-wheeler belonging to the Carnival Committee — thanks, Dan. I need to thank Tucker Houghton for replacing the shifting box on our four-wheeler. After discussing what to do about the ice field, it was decided to try packing it down with a snowmobile. We did this, and it helped. The next day we dragged a section of chain-link fence over the ice field, weighted down with concrete blocks and logs. My thanks to John Pietras for doing this. It helped, but didn’t really smooth the field enough. Bill Madden suggested that we flood the ice field and let it freeze, so Bill and his son Alex cut a hole in the ice, placed a pump over the hole and, with the help of Marty Marks, flooded the ice field. This worked very well. We finally got to the point where the ice field was smooth and it could be plowed again.

Once construction began, it went smoothly, and I thank the following list of people and places for what they provided to assist the construction or the crew doing the building: Cliff Cochran for his excavator and operating it; Garrett Foster for moving the tool trailer and cutting the ice each day; Kim Duso for letting us use his saw; Taylor Rental for the use of a skid steer; Paul Smith’s College for their log loader and Tom Bartiss for operating it; Lee Foster for using his tractor; Hyde Fuel for providing the fuel for our equipment and Tom Hyde for the use of his tool cat; Bobcat of Plattsburgh for a piece of equipment and Darren Dalton for operating it; St. Joe’s for coffee and hot cocoa, and Kelly Duprey for bringing it to us each day; the Women’s Civic Chamber for the food each day; Luck Brothers for the use of the crane and Dan Trim, the operator; village employees for thawing our four-wheeler when it froze and leveling the construction site before the build; Queen Nancy Heath for baking us great cookies; McDonald’s for the Egg McMuffins; Price Chopper or whoever brought the cookies and brownies from there to us; and of course the Lake View Deli for providing a bowl and a roll lunch for the hungry workers. I know I missed someone, and I apologize, but it is difficult to keep track of everything.

I really want to thank everyone who came down to build this year. They had to sign in every day, wear a mask and stay as far apart as possible. These were not ideal working conditions, but it got done. Hopefully, next year will be back to normal, and we can build a bigger, better Palace and have a full Carnival.

Dean Baker

Ice Palace chairman

Saranac Lake