Maranacook Community Middle School students use poles Wednesday to get an ice carousel spinning within the frozen surface of Maranacook Lake in Readfield. The ice carousel, created last weekend by a group of volunteers, is being used along with other lake features to give the students a variety of lessons. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

READFIELD — About 15 volunteers gathered Sunday on Maranacook Lake to cut a circle 40 feet in diameter into the 14-inch-thick ice.

They were making an ice carousel: a circular piece of ice that spins like a merry-go-round on top of the lake water.

It was hard work, but Wednesday it provided a source of joy and learning for the cohort of students in Acadia Team at Maranacook Community Middle School. Students walked across the street from the school to enjoy a day of ice activities that also included ice fishing, sculptures and harvesting, as well as an education session from game wardens.

“People are coming out of the woodwork to support our kids; you just have to ask. You have to have a dream and do it. It’s really something I am excited that our school is allowing our kids to do,” said Jean Roesner, a teacher who, along with Dan Holman, has organized the ice education event for three years.

The school uses the event to teach students about the rich history of ice harvesting in Kennebec County, a booming industry in the early 1900s. Students also learn how to make ice cream with the ice, among other activities, such as calculating how fast ice will melt.

This year, the teachers decided to create an ice carousel. They believe it is one of the very few in the country built by a school community. A Maine group in 2023 set the world record for the largest ice carousel at 1,176 feet in diameter.

In any case, it helped the students learn, they said.

“In our math class, we have actually calculated how heavy inside the carousel is and the kids figured out how many kids we could fit on the inside of the carousel before it sinks, so we integrated that into it,” Roesner said, adding that they calculated it would take 35 students to sink the ice.

The students got onto the center of the carousel to see how fast the circle could spin. Roesner explained that the effect is the same when a figure skater brings their arms into their chest to spin faster.

Maranacook Community Middle School students use traditional harvesting tools Wednesday to pull up a block of ice cut by classmates and volunteers on Maranacook Lake in Readfield. The students are spending the day at the lake learning a variety of ice-related lessons. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

Students Johnathan Perry, 12, and Augustus Villareal, 13, spun their classmates on the inside of the carousel and while doing so, they made sure the water between the circle and the edge of the lake did not freeze through. Neither of the students had seen an ice carousel before.

“We are seeing what we can do with the ice carousel,” Perry said. “Me and my partner Jackson calculated how many square feet to hold the entire Acadia team and I forgot how much it was, but it was a lot.”

If the students were not at the ice carousel, they could have helped harvest ice, like student Carlene Parks, 11.

Parks, with ice traction cleats attached to her winter boots, sawed through more than a foot of ice to free a chunk that floated over to her classmates. Then, a group of five classmates hooked the ice with a pick and pulled on a rope to get the ice out of the water. It was then picked up by a small vehicle with a plow and brought over to the ice sculpture station.

“No one really told me what to do, but they gave me the saw to cut through the ice,” she said. “I like that the saw is easy to move.”

Game wardens and the fire department were on the scene in the event of any emergency, and clothes were donated to students who did not have the proper snow gear. Local community members attended the ice events and brought hand and foot warmers for the students, as well.