After a polar vortex-chilled, six-week run last year on the Riviera Beach in the heart of Lake Geneva, the upcoming Ice Castles frozen and illuminated ice extravaganza will move about seven miles northwest to the edge of Lake Como.
The castles – which open on Friday, Jan. 31 – are being built at the Geneva National Resort & Club, where ample space will allow the structures to expand and to accommodate the kinds of crowds the spectacle draws, even when temperatures dip below zero.
"Our partnership with Geneva National Resort will allow us to create an even bigger castle with more interactive features and magical elements," Ice Castles LLC CEO Ryan Davis told the Lake Geneva Regional News.
The newspaper noted that a plan to move the castles to a site about a half-mile from Riviera Beach, near Lake Geneva's Dunn Field, drew opposition and failed.
Here's a first look I did at the Ice Castles last January.
Tickets are on sale now.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He can be heard weekly on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories.
