One day before the start of the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival, volunteers were able to finish constructing the ice palace centerpiece.

“There was a little bit of worry last week. Luckily, the weekend, last weekend, it was cold enough that we got enough ice,” Saranac Lake Ice Palace Construction Manager Dean Baker said.

First held in 1897, the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival is the oldest of its kind east of the Mississippi River. In his 41 years as a part of it, Dean Baker says he's never seen an Adirondack winter quite so warm.

“Luckily, this bay doesn't have the current that the river out there does so well,” Baker said. “The ice here is always thicker and we've been growing it like this by getting the snow off of it for a while, about three weeks now.”

Baker added that the snow acts as insulation that keeps the ice and water warmer, so removing it helps freeze it. That allows the ice to thicken and volunteers to use a 1940 saw to cut out a grid of blocks that are 2 feet by 4 feet, weighing 400 pounds apiece.

Each year, the palace, which includes walkways has a theme. This year’s is “creepy carnival.”

“It's a family-friendly, Halloween-based theme,” Winter Carnival Chair Rob Russell said. “We've had 45 to 50 people [volunteer] each day, which is an absolutely amazing accomplishment.”