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.
The Minnesota State Patrol has identified the motorist whose SUV hit a school bus taking kids to their Iron Range school.
The patrol said 19-year-old Svea Lynn Snickers, of Alborn, Minn., ran a stop sign at the intersection and hit the bus as it headed north on Hwy. 5. She was last reported to be in critical condition.
The collision occurred just east of Hibbing about 7:50 a.m. Thursday at the intersection of Hwy. 5 and Town Line Road, according to the State Patrol.
All 21 children heading to Cherry School suffered minor injuries when the bus flipped over about 7 miles southwest of its destination, the patrol said. The school serves about 600 students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, and students of all ages were on the bus, said St. Louis County Schools Superintendent Reggie Engebritson.
A witness told Hibbing police that students were able to crawl out of the bus on their own.
Snickers suffered critical injuries, was extricated from the wreckage by emergency responders and taken by air ambulance to Essentia Hospital in nearby Virginia, according to police.
The bus driver, 52-year-old Shawn Allen Lindula, of Iron, Minn., was expected to survive his injuries.
Star Tribune staff writer Jana Hollingsworth contributed to this report.
St. Louis Park will soon require landlords to give renters more notice before they file for evictions over late payments.
The city currently requires landlords to give tenants notice seven days before they file for eviction. Starting in November, landlords will have to give 30 days notice and use a form prepared by the city.
“This is a tough ordinance,” Council Member Lynette Dumalag, the only person to vote against the change, said during a meeting this week. “At least for me, personally, I felt that it pit those that care about affordable housing against one another.”
In public hearings and other forums, city leaders heard from renters who said the current requirements didn’t give them enough time to scrape together payments if they face a sudden hardship, such as losing a job. They also heard from at least one landlord who said he might have to increase deposits because he already struggles to make ends meet when renters fall behind on payments.
The change passed 4 to 1. Council Member Tim Brausen and Mayor Nadia Mohamed were absent.
PARK RAPIDS, Minn. — Ryan Leckner has resigned as Mayor of Park Rapids and the city council has officially declared a vacancy.
City Administrator Angel Weasner said councilmembers will hold a workshop on Sept. 24 to determine how to proceed. They can fill the vacancy by appointment or hold a special election, which Leckner said seems unlikely given that the November general election is just around the corner.
Until then, Leckner said “we’re thinking that we’ll just be able to get by with just one less council member.”
He added that Councilmember Liz Stone would likely serve as acting mayor until voters hit the polls.
Former Park Rapids Mayor Pat Mikesh is running uncontested for Leckner’s now-vacant seat.
In 2018, Mikesh stepped down a month before the election and Leckner successfully ran as a write-in candidate.
Leckner first joined the council in 2015 and is ending his third, two-year term as mayor early because his family built a home outside city limits. Construction of the home in Henrietta Township, and the sale of his existing home in Park Rapids, all happened faster than expected, he said.
“My term was up in November anyways,” he said, “so I was kind of planning on just not running.”
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