Lake City Better Futures

January 24, 2012

PRESS RELEASE

Old fashioned ice cutting demonstration part of Winterfest 2012:

Lake City, Minn. – Before modern day refrigeration, families relied on lake ice to cool their food during the summer months.

Kenny Englund remembers every January, his father, Peter, would harvest ice on a lake near the family’s hometown of Isanti, Minn., about 40 miles north of the Twin Cities.

“My father had a mustache. He would be working so hard he’d sweat; then he would have icicles hanging from his mustache,” recalls Kenny.

Kenny says his father used an ice sawing machine he built himself in 1923 to cut what they called “cakes.” “I guess they call them cubes now,” he says.

The ice “cakes” were then pulled out by hand and transported to an outdoor ice house. They were covered in saw dust and kept food cold through the summer.

Kenny says the ice sawing machine looks like a home-made tractor with a saw on the back of it. He now owns it along with another antique ice cutter he bought at an auction.

“These are the only ice cutting machines I know of in the state,” Kenny says.

Kenny and his family members will be bringing both machines to Winterfest on Saturday, Jan. 28 to do an old fashioned ice cutting demonstration. It will take place at Noon at Ohuta Beach.

Winterfest organizers say the open water will be used for the Polar Plunge starting at 3 p.m., and the ice “cakes” will be used to build an Ice Bar. The bar will be stocked in the afternoon with beverages and food from The Railhouse Grill.

“It’s going to take about an hour to cut 150 or so ‘cakes’,” Kenny says. “You bet it’s a lot of work!”

The Englund family typically does one ice cutting demonstration a year near their hometown. But Kenny says they are looking forward to doing two this year.

“People seem to be interested so we’re happy to come to Lake City,” he says. “It’s become a hobby.”

To view all of this year’s Winterfest activities, visit www.lcbetterfutures.org.

Business Invigoration ~ Volunteerism ~ Youth Activities ~ Lake City Promotion