PHOTOS: Veal's Ice Tree
This is how Veal's Ice Tree starts out.
The Veal's say they use scrap lumber and binder twine to build the frame. Then garden hoses are tied to the frame and tree limbs and brush are added. After the ice is solid, more brush is added, the hoses are relocated, and the cycle starts again.Photo by: Veal's Ice Tree Facebook page
The Veal's have built an ice tree since 1961. It's located at 11333 Southeastern Avenue in Indianapolis. They get the water from a pond on the property.Photo by: Shea Goodpaster
Hours for the Ice Tree are from dawn to dusk, 7 days a week. The turn the lights off around 10 p.m.
The Veal's do not collect money or accept donations.
Photo by: Shea GoodpasterThey mix powdered food coloring dye with water and spray the dye onto the ice treePhoto by: Shea Goodpaster
The Veal's say the amount of freezing temperatures and amount of time they have to work on the Ice Tree
determine its height. In 2014, it was an estimated 79-80 feet.Photo by: Shea Goodpaster
The Veal's say their Ice Tree tradition started in the winter of 1961
. The family was spraying water on a hill to make an ice slide onto a pond. During the night, the wind blew the spray onto some honeysuckle bushes. They say the result was so beautiful that they sprayed water directly onto the bushes and the Ice Tree was born.Photo by: Shea Goodpaster