ST. AGATHA, Maine — A group of ice carousel enthusiasts based in St. Agatha wants the world record back for Maine.
Northern Maine Ice Busters have twice captured the title and trophy for World Championship Ice Carousel.
The group’s latest victory was in April 2021 when volunteers made a 27-acre circular chunk of Long Lake ice measuring 1,234 feet in diameter spin to reclaim the title from Finland. Chuck Zwilling of Little Falls, Minnesota, who also held the record in 2019, recaptured the title from Maine with a 1,325-foot disc in February of this year.
The main reason for building the ice carousel is to bring some fun and excitement to northern Maine near the end of winter, according to Ice Busters representative John Mazo. The effort has become a festival of sorts, drawing people from across the state to see if the group can make the huge ice disc spin.
“It’s to have a good time, but it’s also an engineering feat if you really think about it,” Mazo said.
The group used outboard motors and a potato harvester blower motor that St. Agatha plumber Roger Morneault modified with a 24-inch brass propeller to successfully spin the carousel one full revolution, enough to bring the world record title back to Maine.
The Northern Maine Ice Busters met Thursday evening where they vowed to yet again build the biggest spinning ice carousel the world has ever seen.
“This carousel is going to be a lot larger than Chuck’s, they don’t want to beat it by just a couple of feet,” Mazo said.
The Ice Busters also want to draw attention to northern Maine, which is often overlooked, according to Mazo.
“People forget about us but the ingenuity of these guys up here is just unbelievable, some of the stuff they come up with and build,” Mazo said.
‘Mazo said there was much talk at Thursday’s meeting about a new way to make the ice carousel spin.’Mazo said there was much talk at Thursday’s meeting about a new way to make the ice carousel spin.
“Roger wants to do the propulsion differently than last time, kind of like stepping up the game,” Mazo said.
The effort will take place the first weekend of April 2023 near the Long Lake Country Club in St. David.
The World Ice Carousel Association monitors the ice carousel building events.
