Ice harvest demonstration in Lansing postponed to February 10

The Lansing ice harvest scheduled for Saturday, January 27 has been rescheduled to February 10 due to poor ice conditions. The Allamakee County Conservation Board, along with Karen and Gary Galema of Lansing, will now be hosting an Ice Harvest Demonstration at Village Creek State Boat Landing on the south edge of Lansing Saturday, February 10. The ice harvest demonstration will be held from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Anyone who is interested in the event is asked to park in the boat landing parking lot and walk to the boat ramp area.

Harvesting ice during the winter months was important before modern refrigeration was found in households, and Lansing was home to seven different ice houses throughout the period. Ice houses were large, stone buildings where the ice could be stored, buried in saw dust for use during the hot summer months. The demonstration will be performed using equipment that was used during ice harvests in and around Lansing from the 1900s to the 1950s.

After the Ice Harvest, from 1-3 p.m., families will be able to make homemade ice cream at the Driftless Area Education and Visitors Center, located just a bit further south of Lansing at 1944 Columbus Road. All material and ingredients will be provided free of charge and anyone interested will be able to make ice cream to sample at any time from 1-3 p.m.

For more information on this event or any event hosted by Allamakee County Conservation contact 563-538-0400. In the event of inclement weather, all program announcements will be made on the Allamakee County Conservation Facebook page.