Frozen Assets Festival

×

Expand

courtesy Clean Lakes Alliance

Kids and Bucky Badger playing hockey.

Pond hockey with Bucky Badger at the 2022 Frozen Assets Festival.

During our recent deep freeze it was looking good for some solid ice — finally — on Lake Mendota, but the last couple weeks melted hopes away. Clean Lakes Alliance’s Frozen Assets Festival will go on, on land, with the 5K replaced by a winter workout (10 a.m., Feb. 3). Plenty of other hands-on activities for all ages will take place, along with movie screenings, ice skating and more. (Previously scheduled Wisconsin Kiter’s Club demonstrations on Friday night and Sunday afternoon have also been canceled.). Watch for schedule updates at cleanlakesalliance.org.

media release: 12th Annual Frozen Assets Festival

Saturday, February 3, 2024 (10 a.m. – 3 p.m.) – All events

Sunday, February 4, 2024 (11 a.m. – 2 p.m.) – CANCELED

The Edgewater

FREE, open to the public

Join Clean Lakes Alliance for Frozen Assets 2024! The family-friendly festival on frozen Lake Mendota and at The Edgewater helps connect the community with the lake through free winter activities.

Festival attendees can see skydiving, figure skating, dance, speed skating, science, and large show kite demonstrations. Festival goers can also try pond hockey, snowshoeing, and skating; meet Bucky Badger, see the Mary B. Iceboat up close, and more!

Saturday will start with Madison's Largest Winter Workout (taking the place of the annual Frozen Assets 5K Run/Walk, due to unstable ice conditions on frozen Lake Mendota). Join us on Saturday, February 3, at The Edgewater to pick up your event T-shirt (courtesy Lands' End), receive your free beer/seltzer (courtesy Michelob Ultra), and participate in a Barre3 workout. While you won't get to run or walk on the lake, this tailored Barre3 workout will incorporate strength, cardio, and mindfulness during these "coldish" winter months. Your registration supports work to protect and improve water quality in our lakes. 8 - 9:30 a.m. check in | 10 a.m. workout, The Edgewater. $45 per participant (FREE for children 10 & under with purchase of adult registration).

Each year, this FUNraiser, FRIENDraiser, and FUNDraiser highlights the year-round value of our lakes, while raising money to protect our waters through lake improvement projects, educational programming, and our volunteer water quality monitoring program.

When the lakes freeze in Greater Madison, they become our largest parks. Clean Lakes Alliance hopes community members and visiting guests can interact with our “frozen assets” and appreciate their importance, even in the middle of the winter.

Weekend schedule:

Friday, February 2 at Dusk: Kites on Mendota Night Fly is CANCELED due to ice conditions; Night Ice with DJ Nick Nice 7-9 pm (tickets here).

Saturday, February 3, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. THE FESTIVAL

All Day Events:

• Free hot chocolate, Grand Plaza
• Free ice skating and skate rental, The Edgewater Ice Rink and Skate Shop
• Slapshot inflatable game, courtesy of the Madison Capitols Hockey Team, The Langdon Landing
• Explore how UW-Madison Center for Limnology monitors our lakes in the winter months, Grand Plaza
• Winter craft stations, The Grand Ballroom
• Modern 21' dugout canoe made by Ho-Chunk Youth Services and Ho-Chunk Nation Culture Resources Division

Scheduled Activities:

• 8 – 9:30 a.m. Check in for Frozen Assets - Madison's Largest Winter Workout, 5th Floor Registration Tables
• 10 a.m. Frozen Assets - Madison's Largest Winter Workout begins, Grand Plaza
• 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. What’s Colder Than Ice? – UW-Madison Physics Department demonstrations with liquid nitrogen, Grand Plaza
• 11 a.m. Dance demonstration with Central Midwest Ballet, The Grand Ballroom Stage
• 11:30 a.m. Movie showing, March of the Penguins, The Grand Ballroom Theatre
• 11:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. Come learn about IceCube which uses ice to help look for signals from almost invisible comic messengers known as neutrinos, Grand Plaza
• 12 p.m. Mad Science: Up, Up and Away, The Grand Ballroom Stage
• 1 p.m. Figure skating demonstrations with Figure Skating Club of Madison, The Edgewater Ice Rink
• 1:30 p.m. Movie showing, Disney Nature: Oceans, The Grand Ballroom Theatre
• 2 p.m. Mad Science: Fire & Ice, The Grand Ballroom Stage

Sunday, February 4, 11 am-2 pm– Kites on Mendota IS CANCELED