Kim Bishop and her son, Dylan Bishop, pose for a picture with the ice wall they built. (Kenneth Cheung/ battlefordsNOW staff)

By Kenneth Cheung

ICE WALL

Community helps Battlefords woman rebuilds rainbow ice wall after teenage vandalism

Jan 31, 2025 | 11:00 AM

When life gives you freezing weather, why not build a rainbow-coloured ice fortress?

That’s exactly what North Battleford resident Kim Bishop, did after vandals knocked down their beloved ice wall.

Bishop, a dayhome provider for 15 years, has enjoyed creating ice structures with her children each winter. She shared that this fun tradition was inspired by a fellow dayhome mom and friend.

However, around two weeks ago, a group of teenagers destroyed their masterpiece. Instead of feeling defeated, she decided to rebuild—bigger, better, and even more colourful.

“I wanted to make something bigger and better to show that you’re not going to wreck my day,” Bishop said.

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“I just tried to help my mom rebuild it and then just go from there,” Bishop’s son, Dylan, added.

What started as a small ice wall became a community project. She recalled that after she shared on social media that it had been ruined, neighbours and friends quickly stepped in.

“I got people messaging me to ask to donate materials, and they even offered to buy stuff off Amazon for me,” she said.

“The support I got…holy smokes! It was amazing.”

As for now, they have used 150 milk jugs. (Facebook/ Kim Bishop)

To rebuild the structure, Bishop explained that they use containers like milk jugs as moulds, freeze them with food colouring, and then set them outside in the cold, one by one.

“The next day, my kids and my husband and I peeled all of them apart, and then they all helped me build it,” she noted.

So far, they have used about 150 containers, which took them four to five hours to assemble everything.

“What I did was fill a million milk jugs with water and, holy, It was really cold,” Dylan shared. “It’s a fun experience for me and for the [dayhome] children to help my mom.”

Kim Bishop. (Kenneth Cheung/ battlefordsNOW staff)

A lesson learned for her and her kids

“It is discouraging because I was not raised that way, and when my own children helped me redo it, they asked me, ‘Why those same kids were not fixing it with me?’”

“My kids couldn’t understand why someone would touch somebody else’s property,” Bishop said.

Instead of teaching her children to fight back and seek revenge, she guided them to respond with kindness.

“I feel really disappointed. I was just in shock,” Dylan said when asked how he felt when he found out the wall was knocked down.

(Kenneth Cheung/ battlefordsNOW staff)

She mentioned that one of the teenagers from the group that knocked down the ice wall offered to help rebuild it, but Bishop wants the one who kicked it to take up the responsibility.

“But they won’t come forward. Whatever, it doesn’t matter. We moved on. We decided to make it bigger and even better,” she noted.

Moving forward, despite the uncertainty and the on-and-off winter weather, she will continue having this fun with her family and the children in her dayhome.

“We’ll keep doing this as long as we can, and if it melts, we’ll just make another one.”

—

Kenneth.Cheung@pattisonmedia.com