Inver Grove Heights Man Capitalizes On Winter With Colored Ice Castle
INVER GROVE HEIGHTS, Minn. (WCCO) -- Minnesotans will do all kinds of things to keep from getting bored in the winter.
An Inver Grove Heights man is the perfect example of that.
Every year Mark Williams builds a castle next to his house.
It takes a whole lot of ice and a whole lot of food coloring to make it happen.
"They keep getting crazier and crazier and bigger and bigger," said Mark.
They say a man's home is his castle. Five years ago, Mark decided he wanted both a home and a castle.
Gallery: Mark Williams' Colored Ice Castle
The first year it was an igloo. Now, it's a fortress.
"I try and do about 300 a night. Depends on how cold it is and how cold I get," said Mark.
When the January temps get cold enough, Mark fills 300 plastic containers with water and leaves them there to freeze. He also adds food coloring to each one.
"That's expensive. I bought a lot of that," said Mark.
Mark began building this about a month ago. About 2,000 bricks make up the walls. The problem is once the weather warms up the castles start to fall apart.
His dream this year was to make additional walls and a pillar with Christmas lights hanging from them. But with 40s in the forecast, Mother Nature may have other plans.
The neighbors haven't said much about his work.
"I haven't heard from them. I'm sure they think I'm nuts," said Mark.
But Mark's wife Anita has sure taken notice. If his hard work melts away, she has no doubt it will return bigger and better next year.
"He likes to take something and make something unusual out of it. He's got a knack for that," said Anita.
Mark has spent about 60 hours so far on his ice castle.
He says ideally, he needs 20 degree weather during the day and overnight temperatures in the single digits.
Next year he plans on making a big doghouse with Snoopy on top of it.