This community festival embraces the joys of a frozen lake — while it still has one

The Picture Show This community festival embraces the joys of a frozen lake — while it still has one February 27, 2026 3:00 AM ET Berly McCoy People gather on Lake Mendota near an inflatable Statue of Liberty crown and torch at the 2026 Winter Carnival on Feb. 7 in Madison, Wis. Kayla Wolf for NPR hide caption toggle caption Kayla Wolf for NPR MADISON, Wis. — Earlier this month, Madison, Wis., was host to the city's 14th annual Frozen Assets Festival. "When our lakes are frozen, they are truly our greatest asset," says James Tye, executive director and founder of Clean Lakes Alliance, the nonprofit that hosts the festival. This time of year, frozen lakes are a part of life here. The city was built on an isthmus — a thin strip of land between two bodies of water. Lake Mendota and Lake Monona border the city's historic downtown on either side, with the strip of land running about a mile wide at its thinnest. The lakes are visible from many places in town. In wintertime, ice fishing, skating, ice sailing and snowshoeing are all common sights. Historically, people valued the ice for other reasons. "There's a long history of ice harvesting in this region," says Hilary Dugan, a limnologist — someone who studies inland waters — at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. "So [there was] just a lot of commercial activity on these lakes, cutting blocks of ice out of the lakes all winter." Frozen lakes were so important to the city that records of when the ice froze each year go back more than 100 years. Today, there's even a contest where people guess the day Lake Mendota will freeze. On average, that date is getting later. Hilary Dugan, a limnologist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, poses for a portrait behind a hole she drilled on Lake Mendota during the city's annual Frozen Assets Festival on Feb. 7. Kayla Wolf for NPR hide caption toggle caption Kayla Wolf for NPR "We've actually lost about a month of lake ice duration here in Madison," says Dugan. And the ice that ...