A rendering of the ice maze at CityCenterDC

CityCenterDC

The District is filled with immersive holiday exhibits this time of year, and it’s about to get (literally) cooler this weekend.

This weekend, the Park at CityCenterDC will transform into an icy maze, surrounded by 7-foot-tall walls made of 110,000 pounds of clear ice.

The exhibition is this year’s immersive large-scale ice installation by CityCenterDC that graces the downtown development each holiday. The maze comes after a life-sized igloo in 2017 and 12-foot-tall icy replicas of Washington’s monuments in last year, two projects that CityCenterDC partnered with Ice Lab Ice Sculptures to create.

“Thousands and thousands of people stood line to experience those,” CityCenterDC director Timothy Lowery tells DCist. “This year, we decided to keep with the ice theme, and as the team began to brainstorm … the ice maze concept came together.”

Stretching at 25 feet wide and 45 feet in length, CityCenterDC is claiming the frozen labyrinth is the largest clear ice maze in the United States, which makes exploring it a bit of a challenge.

“There will be a few dead ends,” Lowery says. “You might have to turn around a couple of times, but ultimately it’ll take you a few minutes to get through the ice maze and … it ends at the holiday tree.”

Visiting the maze is free, although guests will have the chance to donate to the Children’s National Hospital through CityCenterDC’s “Find Your Joy” campaign.

Several visitors will be allowed to enter the maze at a time, based on how the line flows on Friday. Ten crew members from Ice Labs will begin the three-day construction of the maze on Wednesday, and it will get touchups on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. The team will use dry ice as necessary to keep the structure chilled if the temperatures don’t drop below freezing this weekend, Ice Lab founder Casey Lee Conner says.

With 300 crystal clear 300-pound ice blocks forming the maze’s walls, expect it to be a bit chillier in the maze compared to the area surrounding it, he adds.

“You’re going to feel probably a 10-15 degree difference from the ambient temperature from outside,” Conner says. “Depending on what you’re wearing, you might regret not putting on that extra layer.”

The Ice Maze is located at the Park at CityCenter DC. Open Friday 4 p.m.-9 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m.-2 p.m. and 4 p.m.-9 p.m. FREE.

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