MAYVILLE, N.Y. (WKBW) — The Mayville community is embracing the cold weather with its annual Winter Fest, featuring an impressive ice castle.
"If you got ice, make a castle," Burl Swanson, member of the ice castle construction crew, said.
The team, made up of volunteers and Erie 2-Chautauqua-Cattaraugus BOCES students, cut more than 2,000 ice blocks from frozen Chautauqua Lake, weighing a combined 1.3 million pounds, to build the structure.
"The whole lake is completely frozen over," Swanson said. "We're standing on probably 15 inches of ice."
The team worked for over three weeks to complete it, despite challenging conditions.
"The first day we started working on it, it was in the negatives," one student said. "It was like -20 with wind chill. It was pretty rough."
WATCH: Plenty of ice this winter for Mayville Winterfest's ice castle
The castle features special details, including a knight in shining armor and multiple themed rooms. This year, organizers added a second room for Valentine's Day after last year's single heart room made lines lasting two to three hours.
Elaine Duquette drove from North Tonawanda to celebrate her birthday at the festival with her granddaughter, Lucy.
"If you know me, I'm not a fan of winter," Duquette said. "So, you know what? February, the middle of February comes, the sun's out."
Visitors acknowledge that this winter has been challenging, but events like the Winter Fest help make the season enjoyable.
"We just love what you can do in the wintertime as far as sports, snowmobiling, sledding. In the summertime, we actually go to Alaska," Diane Vishnia said. "We have a house on Kodiak Island, so that's how much we love winter."
Swanson said the festival brings people together during the coldest months.
"This is kind of the historical and the celebration of winter," Swanson said. "President's Weekend Winter Festival. Give everybody a chance to get out. Spring is coming."
The Winterfest begins Friday evening and is 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. For more information, go to mayvillewinterfest.com.
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