Northern Maine Ice Carousel May Have Broken Several World Records

What's an ice carousel? Good question. Simply put, it is a circle of ice carved out of a body of water that allows the carved-out circle to rotate like a merry-go-round. Instead of seats, there are trucks and helicopters on the carousel.

The United States and Canada

This particular ice disc was carved out of the ice on the St. John River between Van Buren, Maine, and St. Leonard, New Brunswick, making this an event shared between the two countries. The Maine and Canadian border lands right in the middle of the ice disc.

The disc is crated with chainsaws that cut the ice and when it's completed, they were able to rotate the disc having it make a complete revolution in 10 minutes or less.

$5 Million Worth of Equipment

Now this is where things get a little crazy. As the carousel was spinning it had three helicopters, several heavy vehicles and some smaller trucks. According to the Bangor Daily News, all told it was estimated that there was $5 million worth of equipment on the ice carousel, with each of the helicopters accounting for $1.4 million apiece. That's brave!

How They Timed the Carousel

This is pretty brilliant thinking. Two wooden arrows were placed pointing at each other on the edge of the carousel and the river on the other side. To find out how long it takes for the carousel to complete one revolution, they start a timer when the carousel starts up and stops the timer when the two arrows meet again. It always managed to rotate completely in 10 minutes or less.

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As of this writing, world records have not been officially announced yet, but it appears that they broke records for the first-ever international ice carousel between the United States and Canada. The first carousel on a river, and the highest value of vehicles on its surface. If it wins the award for the first ice carousel to be carved on a river, it will also get the record for the largest ice carousel at 190 feet in diameter.