Lady Liberty on Lake Mendota (Feb. 16, 2009)

History of Lady Liberty on Lake Mendota (Feb. 16, 2009).

Ice on Lake Mendota has melted so fast the Statue of Liberty, buried under the ice sheet, is beginning to reappear behind the Memorial Union on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.

OK, that’s stretching the truth just a little bit.

But the top of Miss Liberty’s head and her torch-holding arm will be “protruding” through the ice, an homage to the university’s wacky past, serving as a beacon to all attending the annual Hoofers Winter Carnival this weekend on campus.

Hoofers Winter Carnival chair Bridget Maniaci said the faux statue will be erected on the Lake Mendota ice Friday to commemorate the 30-year anniversary of the first erection in February 1979, a campaign promise from the campus Pail and Shovel Party, who took control of the student senate in 1978.

The Memorial Union shifted its weather webcam slightly east to broadcast the rebuilding of Lady Liberty via the Internet.

The recent warm weather put a damper on several festival events such as Bascom Hill skiing and snowboarding, but events on Lake Mendota will go ahead as scheduled, as the ice is very thick and should measure up for competitors in such sports as broomball, frozen bowling and snow croquet.

Other events include the premiere showing of the film “Anamoly” at the Wisconsin Union Theater at 8 p.m. Thursday night, A Valentine’s moonlight hike on the Ice Age trail and free skiing at Tyrol Basin on Saturday night, the winter games events Saturday afternoon on Lake Mendota and snow kiting on Lake Mendota a week from Saturday on Feb. 21.

Wisconsin Hoofers is the UW-Madison outdoor recreation club, offering recreational sports opportunities and competition to UW students since its inception in 1931, with roots harkening back to 1920 when Norwegian exchange students built a ski jump on Muir Knoll, with jumpers propelled out onto Lake Mendota’s ice.

For more carnival information, go online to the Hoofers Web site.

The Capital Times — 2/13/2009 7:43 pm