Crossroads of Rockland History: Knickerbocker Ice Festival

1/19/2026

The January episode of "Crossroads of Rockland History" starts streaming on Monday, January 19, at 10 am, on all major podcast platforms and here on the HSRC website.

Tune in to the next crossroads of Rockland history when will welcome Timothy Englert, founder of Rockland County's Knickerbocker Ice Festival. Tim will share stories about Rockland Lake's illustrious past as the ice box of New York City and how it became world famous a century before it became a state park.

With the Knickerbocker Ice Festival returning on the weekend of January 31-February, Tim will share how he and the late Robert Patalano created the ice festival that thrilled thousands from 2007 to 2013 with huge ice sculptures along the banks of the Rockland Lake.

About the presenter: Timothy Englert is the creator of the Knickerbocker Ice Festival at Rockland Lake, as well as The Knickerbocker Bench, a modern interpretation of the venerable log bench, which can be found along trails and in parks throughout the Hudson Valley and beyond. He was a development executive for the Palisades Interstate Park Commission (PIPC) and a documentary filmmaker with a career spanning two decades. His favorite films are the many shorts he made about the PIPC's illustrious history.

New episodes of "Crossroads of Rockland History," a program of the Historical Society of Rockland County, premier at www.RocklandHistory.org on the third Monday of each month. Join host Clare Sheridan as we explore, celebrate, and learn about our local history, with different topics and guest speakers. Our recorded broadcasts are also available for streaming on all major podcasts platforms.
 
The Historical Society of Rockland County is a nonprofit educational institution and principal repository for original documents and artifacts relating to Rockland County. Its headquarters are a four-acre site featuring a history museum and the 1832 Jacob Blauvelt House in New City, New York.