Maiden Rock ice formations drawing crowds

Roger Nelson’s ice formations are quickly becoming Pierce County’s must-see winter tourism destination.

Nelson lives on a 400-acre farmstead at N2696 Cty. Rd. A in Maiden Rock in a valley next to the Rush River. He has “crafted” his formations atop an artesian aquifer. There are over two dozen formations this year, and the “display” grows every year.

“Oh we’ve been flooded with people already this year. It’s great. There have been hundreds of people out here. They come in and take a look at them and walk all around. This weekend, we had people from Goodhue, Chippewa Falls, Amery, all over,” said Nelson.

He started his special project a couple decades ago, and it’s bigger and better every year. A plumber by trade, Nelson runs pipe and hoses with holes in them to create the masterpieces that change by the day.

“I just got them started going Christmas Eve day this year. It’s actually pretty simple

Photos from Roger Nelson.

to do, and it sure makes people happy. People are just looking for something to do this year, and we’re happy to have them come out,” he said. “With the water flowing, they actually change every couple days. It’s totally bigger and different as the days go on. They’re lit up at night. I have timers that turn on at dawn and dusk. They’re lit up until after midnight.”

He started making the formations because the artesian wells can’t be shut off in the winter because they freeze up.

“I had a fountain in my yard and that first year I let the fountain run and it turned into a neat little ice thing. The next year, I started experimenting and making more of them and bigger ones. We started with two and went to 10. There’s 33 of them this year,” said Nelson. “I’ve been doing it a long time.”

KARE11 TV’s Boyd Huppert plans an episode of his popular “Land of 10,000 Stories” from Nelson’s formations in early February. He had a crew out there last week filming for eight hours.

“It’s a fun thing for me to do,” said Nelson. “It’s nice when you get a lot of people to come down and enjoy it. It’s cool to see.”