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Lake Geneva Ice Cars: 8 Or More Cars Break Through Ice At Lake Geneva’s Winterfest

By Paula Mooney
Published on: 10:53 PST, Feb 6, 2016

Cars have fallen through the ice of Lake Geneva, a city in Walworth County, Wisconsin. It might sound crazy that people would park their cars atop a lake, but it’s a somewhat popular thing to do in places like Lake Geneva, which experiences such low temperatures during some winters that the lake freezes solid enough for cars to park on top. Folks have been known to walk atop the frozen lake that is Lake Geneva, feeling confident that if Lake Geneva can support the weight of two-ton cars and trucks and other vehicles, that they’d be safe walking across the frozen ice of the resort city’s lake located on Geneva Lake. Just a stone’s throw from Chicago and Milwaukee, Lake Geneva offers a beautiful respite from the more metropolitan cities.

However, with reports that Lake Geneva is now trending on Twitter, and Fox 6 News reportedly headed to the scene, folks are seeing that it’s not a smart thing to do — no matter how solidly frozen the lake appears. The cars fell through the lake during Lake Geneva’s Winterfest as it took place on Saturday afternoon, February 6. With the cars breaking through the ice of Lake Geneva, there haven’t been any reports of injuries as of this writing.

The Lake Geneva Fire Department reported that the cars were there for the Winterfest — a yearly event in Lake Geneva that features such delights as the U.S. National Snow Sculpting competition and other fun activities for the snowy region, such as human sled racing. However, with the mild winter (in comparison to other years) obviously Lake Geneva wasn’t frozen as solid as it was in previous years, and gave way to the weight of the vehicles that the ice couldn’t support.

The photos coming out of Lake Geneva prove to all folks the dangers of parking on ice that’s assumed to be frozen, but apparently isn’t frozen solid. Talk of climate change and a warmer winter due to El Nino, as reported by the National Geographic, will surely follow the viral photos of cars sinking through the ice of Lake Geneva.

According to WGN, people began posting photos on Twitter of the cars that broke through the ice at Lake Geneva, and several of those aerial shots prove that at least eight or more cars seem to have nearly sank through the ice.

As seen in the above photo, Steve Anhorn worked on a snow sculpture titled “Spin Cycle” in Lake Geneva. That was on Thursday, February 4, prior to the cars breaking through the ice at Lake Geneva. The artwork represented an abstract tornado, and Steve was part of one of the 15 teams participating in the U.S. National Snow Sculpting Championship.

The festivities started on Wednesday, and judging was scheduled for Saturday morning along Geneva Lake, prior to the cars partially falling through the ice at Lake Geneva.

There’s no telling how folks reacted upon seeing their cars sinking into Lake Geneva, and whether they wanted to scramble to try and save their vehicles, or if they let wisdom rule and remained at a safe distance.

Either way, the photos of cars sinking through the ice at Lake Geneva are the buzz of social media.

As seen in the photos from Lake Geneva, crowds of people stand around — appearing helpless as they watch their SUVs and cars sink into the lake they probably regret parking atop.

The comments coming into Twitter about the Lake Geneva melee prove what folks think about the cars sinking through the ice.

“Lake Geneva folks have more money that smarts — thank God the generations before them paved the way.”

[AP Photo/Carrie Antlfinger]

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