"Volunteers cut a big ol' circle in a frozen lake and set it in motion, claiming a world record in a category that few people know exists: The biggest ice carousel," the CBS News reports.

With a diameter of 1,776 feet - or 541 meters - the giant piece of ice estimated at 146,000 tons moved slowly like a Lazy Susan to hoots, hollers and high fives on Saturday.

"Northern Maine Ice Busters had to cut through ice nearly 30 inches thick on a path painstakingly measured by survey crews to create a perfect circle measuring nearly six football fields across."

"The Northern Maine Ice Busters took on this chilling endeavor. They describe themselves on Facebook as just a bunch of northern Maine working-class citizens trying to beat cabin fever in the winter months. So on Saturday, they created a rotating disk of ice on the local frozen lake," the NPR says.

"A giant rotating disk. The hunk of ice came in at 1,776 feet in diameter. According to a video that the Ice Busters posted, it weighed quite a bit.

"To make the disk, the crew used drills and chainsaws to cut through 29 inches of ice. Roger Morneault is one of the masterminds behind the project. He told News Center Maine that breaking the ice was no easy task."

"A new world record has been set for the world’s largest ice carousel. Over the weekend a group called the Northern Maine Ice Busters were attempting to break the record," the WAGM-TV says.



”It was a cold and windy day at Long Lake in Saint David, but it wasn’t stopping the Northern Maine Ice Busters from attempting to break a World Record for the largest ice carousel.” According to Roger Morneault, Event Organizer.

"“We cut a big circle in the ice, and you try to get it to spin. Right now that motor behind me is actually turning a gigantic prop that is suppose to be moving this disc but we aren’t moving very fast right now. So we are adding more motors to the ice, small motors, and we are going to try get enough momentum to get this thing to spin. If we spin this one, one revolution, it’s going to be a world record because it’s 1,776 feet in diameter.” he added."

"Frozen lakes are for ice skating, ice fishing, and — for those who are part of the Northern Maine Ice Busters — creating the world’s largest ice carousel," the Desert News says.

"The circle, created Saturday, measured 1,776 feet across and was estimated to weigh about 146,000 tons. The website compared the carousel to a Lazy Susan, turning slowly while people cheered.

"Cutting through ice that was almost 30 inches thick, the Northern Maine Ice Busters had survey crews present to measure progress made, per CBS News."

"The northern communities in and near the Town of Madawaska, Maine have once again wrestled for and won the title of World Record Ice Carousel for the largest ice carousel in the world making one revolution," The American Surveyor says.

"This year it was on Saturday April 1, 2023 at Long Lake in the Town of St. Agatha, Aroostook County, Maine. Collectively identifying themselves as the Northern Maine Ice Busters, they describe themselves as, “Multi-Community Volunteers teaming up to build rotating World Record Ice Carousels on Frozen Lakes throughout the world in the spirit of friendly, International Competition, Cooperation and Comradery.”3. This year was the third year in five years that the NMIB secured the title of World Record Ice Carousel.

"As the disks have increased in size, so too has the need increased for precisely measuring the giant circles. Over the years, several Maine land surveyors have assisted the Northern Maine Ice Busters set the world records on Long Lake by doing RTK layout. Additional surveyors have been called to document and certify as to the exact as-built dimensions using old-school total station methods. This year included, surveyors Kevin Sargent, Kevin Holmes and Steve Hardy, all from Sackett & Brake Survey, Inc. of Dover-Foxcroft6; Spencer Caron of Northern ME Enterprises from Fort Kent; and Mike Cyr of Northern Maine Surveyors from Madawaska. All of them helped in the planning and layout of the giant disk including the locations for the motors that propelled the world record disk to complete the requisite full revolution. Surveyors from Plisga & Day Land Surveyors, Jon Stewart (Bangor office) and Tim Cady (Houlton office) independently verified the dimensions of the disk."

"On the frozen expanse of Long Lake, in upper Aroostook County, some people enjoy ice fishing, and some enjoy snowmobiling. As for Roger Morneault and his crew of some 50 volunteers in the Northern Maine Ice Busters, they enjoy using chainsaws to cut preposterously large circles through the ice. In 2021, the group made one with a diameter of 1,233 feet, certified by Guinness World Records as the largest ice carousel ever created. With 17-inch-thick ice, it weighed about 50 million pounds," the Down East says.

"An ice carousel is man-made, cut into a frozen body of water and set spinning — to power their record holder, the Ice Busters used a 45-pound boat propeller and an old blower from a potato harvester run off an engine designed for heavy-duty pickup trucks. The disk must complete one full rotation for Guinness to count it, and even slight irregularities in the shape can cause a jam against the surrounding ice. Morneault, a plumber by trade, relied on precise GPS coordinates to plot thousands of points along the circumference.

"The Ice Busters surpassed a group in Finland that had cut a 1,000-foot-diameter disk to set the all-time mark just a month earlier. There are other diehards in Minnesota and Quebec who have, at times, held the record. Within Maine, Long Lake is an ideal venue because it generally holds its ice well into late winter and early spring, prime disk-cutting season. In early winter, the ice isn’t reliably thick enough, and in the bitter cold of midwinter, a carousel will refreeze to the surrounding ice too quickly."

"Volunteers in Maine have cut a giant circle in a frozen lake and got it moving, to create a new world record for the biggest ice carousel. The giant piece of ice, which measures 541 meters across and is believed to be over 132,000 metric tons, moved slowly as volunteers cheered," the Engoo says.

"Northern Maine Ice Busters had to cut through ice nearly 76 centimeters thick on a carefully measured line to create a perfect circle measuring nearly six American football fields across. It's a lot of hard work but a lot of fun during the long, cold winter, and it has turned into something of an international event in places like Finland, Quebec, Minnesota and Maine. There's even a World Ice Carousel Association.

"On the day, it took a huge effort to get the giant ice carousel moving with 10 boat engines, a couple of wheeled vehicles and farm equipment, he said."

Photos: Facebook/Northern Maine Ice Busters