Ice Castles won’t be returning to Summit County this winter — or to Colorado at all.

Earlier this year, Dillon announced the castles wouldn’t be built this winter at Town Park, where the company has constructed the frozen attraction over the previous three seasons.

The company then entered conversations with Silverthorne to bring the castles to a parking lot near the Dillon Reservoir dam just outside of town limits. Melissa Smuzynski, a spokesperson for Ice Castles, said a deal ultimately couldn’t be worked out.

“Unfortunately, it didn’t work out there in Silverthorne, and there are various logistical reasons that a location didn’t work out there,” Smuzynski said. “… The amount of land, access to water, adequate drainage, enough parking, traffic flow — those are all things we have to look at as we weigh our decision as to whether a city or a location will work for Ice Castles. Unfortunately, for various reasons, it just didn’t this season.”

Smuzynski voiced optimism that the attraction would return to Colorado sometime in the future. She noted that the Silverthorne location was “not off the table,” nor were other Summit County sites, but she said as soon as word got out that the company wouldn’t be returning to Colorado this winter, there was significant interest from other areas around the state, as well.

“We did have some places reach out to us inquiring about our interest in possibly bringing the attraction to their communities,” Smuzynski said. “… We definitely want to be back in Colorado. Colorado is such a great market, the weather is perfect for a winter event such as ours, and it just has a special place in our hearts as one of the first locations we ever built an ice castle. So we do really hope to be back in Summit County one day.”