Ice Harvest demonstrates settlers' methods

Visitors are invited to harvest ice the old-fashioned way during the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County's Ice Harvest.

If ice conditions allow, the Ice Harvest event is 1 to 4 p.m. Friday to Sunday, Jan. 26 to 28, at Kline Creek Farm, 1N600 County Farm Road, West Chicago.

Visitors will get a glimpse into how families kept food cold before electricity and mechanical refrigeration by helping Kline Creek Farm staff and volunteers score and cut ice into blocks on Timber Lake. They then can help transport the ice to the icehouse, where they'll see how properly stacking and insulating the ice allows the blocks to stay frozen for months without electricity.

"Kline Creek Farm is one of the few places in the Chicagoland area that cuts and stores ice the old-fashioned way," said Forest Preserve District Commissioner Al Murphy, District 6.

"For many visitors, seeing the labor required during the coldest time of the year to make sure foods remained chilled through the hottest is a real eye-opener," said Forest Preserve District of DuPage County President Joe Cantore.

Registration is not needed for the free program, but visitors are encouraged to call the farm in the morning at (630) 876-5900 to ensure ice conditions will allow cutting that day.

Regardless of whether ice is cut, staff and volunteers will be on hand to show some of the tools and equipment used and talk about ice cutting and the importance of ice on a farm in the 1890s.

In addition to the Ice Harvest, Kline Creek Farm will offer smaller ice-cutting demonstrations, weather permitting, at the district's free "Wonders of Winter" event from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 3, at Mayslake Peabody Estate, 1717 W. 31st St., Oak Brook.

For information, call (630) 933-7200 or visit dupageforest.org.