Star Tribune
Minnesota Vikings’ headquarters will be new site for Ice Maze in January
The dark, cold January nights will be brighter in the southeast Twin Cities metro in 2023 when the Minnesota Ice Maze moves from Stillwater to Eagan, becoming part of the Viking Lakes development’s Winter Skolstice celebration.
For two years, the maze has been a midwinter attraction in Stillwater, drawing more than 30,000 visitors in the depths of January and February. To build in Stillwater, the maze partnered with the Zephyr Theatre, which halted productions and laid off staff in October.
Minnesota Ice CEO and owner Robbie Harrell went in search of a new location in the past two weeks, and Minnesota Viking Lakes came in with the offer of a bigger site that will make staging and construction of the maze easier. Harrell was diplomatic about the abrupt move out of the Washington County suburb.
“We obviously love Stillwater, it’s a great town,” Harrell said, but “the partnership with Viking Lakes seemed like a really good opportunity for us.”
The maze will be built on a surface parking lot that is flatter and larger than the Stillwater site, he said.
Kyle Chank, general manager at Viking Lakes, said the maze will be a perfect fit for the second year of “Winter Skolstice” activities planned at the development just south of Interstate 494 and east of Dodd Road. The 200-acre site has been the headquarters of the Minnesota Vikings since 2018.
Winter Skolstice, a play on the NFL Vikings’ skol chant and the site’s Nordic designs, was created to get people outdoors and active at the live-work-play development that also is home to Twin Cities Orthopedics, USA Curling, the Vikings Museum and Locker Room Store, Røkkr e-sports, Arete sports and Training HAUS.
The addition of the maze “makes complete sense with our mission and value of getting people to live out in the fresh air,” Chank said.
This year, the maze will again have almost 2,000 feet of lighted pathway among eight-foot high walls. There will be ice sculpture demonstrations and statues. Minnesota Ice created many of the photogenic ice sculptures for events surrounding the 2018 Super Bowl at U.S. Bank Stadium and the NHL Winter Classic at Target Field last Jan. 1.
Harrell promises lots of surprises to give the maze and event a fresh feel. The maze will also broaden the passageways from 40 inches to 70 inches. “There will be a little bit more space to spread out,” he said.
Harrell said the new location “helps elevate the maze.”
The maze also will be an undeniable boost for the Skolstice events.
Weather permitting, Winter Skolstice and the maze will share the same hours from Jan. 6-Feb. 19. Generally, it will run from 4-10 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekends. Organizers are hoping for a bump in attendance of at least 25% to 40,000 visitors.
Fire pits help keep visitors warm and the Warming Haus, a large heated tent between the ponds and the maze, will have a full-service bar and sell pizzas from Kyndred Hearth, the restaurant inside the Omni Viking Lakes Hotel run by renowned Twin Cities chef Ann Kim.
Skolstice events are free, but require preregistration. The maze, which has timed entries, is $24.99 for adults and $12.99 for kids ages 5-14. Younger kids enter free and tickets go on sale Monday. Tickets are available at the site, subject to availability. Parking is free in the lots near the TCO Stadium, 2645 Vikings Circle.
The official announcement will be made Monday morning during an event at the site with KFAN Radio Show.
DULUTH – The Minnesota and Wisconsin transportation departments will make upgrades to the Richard I. Bong Memorial Bridge in the summer of 2025, in preparation for the structure to become the premiere route between this city and Superior during reconstruction of the Blatnik Bridge.
Built in 1961, the Blatnik Bridge carries 33,000 vehicles per day along Interstate 535 and Hwy. 53. It will be entirely rebuilt, starting in 2027, with the help of $1 billion in federal funding announced earlier this year. MnDOT and WisDOT are splitting the remaining costs of the project, about $4 million each.
According to MnDOT, projects on the Bong Bridge will include spot painting, concrete surface repairs to the bridge abutments, concrete sealer on the deck, replacing rubber strip seal membranes on the main span’s joints and replacing light poles on the bridge and its points of entry. It’s expected to take two months, transportation officials said during a recent meeting at the Superior Public Library.
During this time there will be occasional lane closures, detours at the off-ramps, and for about three weeks the sidewalk path alongside the bridge will be closed.
The Bong Bridge, which crosses the St. Louis River, opened to traffic in 1985 and is the lesser-used of the two bridges. Officials said they want to keep maintenance to a minimum on the span during the Blatnik project, which is expected to take four years.
Red Wing will celebrate the grand opening of its first permanent set of pickleball courts next week with an “inaugural play” on the six courts at Colvill Park on the banks of the Mississippi, between a couple of marinas and next to the aquatic center.
Among the first to get to play on the new courts will be David Anderson, who brought pickleball to the local YMCA in 2008, before the nationwide pickleball craze took hold, and Denny Yecke, at 92 the oldest pickleball player in Red Wing.
The inaugural play begins at 11 a.m. Tuesday, with a rain date of the next day. Afterward will be food and celebration at the Colvill Park Courtyard building.
Tim Sletten, the city’s former police chief, discovered America’s fastest-growing sport a decade ago after he retired. With fellow members of the Red Wing Pickleball Group, he’d play indoors at the local YMCA or outdoors at a local school, on courts made for other sports. But they didn’t have a permanent place, so they approached the city about building one.
When a city feasibility study came up with a high cost, about $350,000, Sletten’s group got together to raise money.
The courts are even opening ahead of schedule, originally set for 2025.
REDWOOD FALLS, MINN. – A truck crashing into a school bus left nine with minor injuries Wednesday morning in rural Redwood County, a statement from the Redwood County Sheriff’s office said.
The bus driver, serving the Wabasso Public School District, failed to yield when entering the intersection of County Road 7 and 280th Street, the statement said.
Deputies received word of the crash around 8:15 a.m. and identified the bus driver as Edward Aslesen, 72, of Milroy.
The nine injured passengers on the bus were transported to local hospitals, the statement said.
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