While it may not be a towering palace, the St. Paul Winter Carnival will have an icy courtyard fit for royalty when the "coolest celebration on Earth" opens in January.

The carnival's "royal courtyard" in Rice Park in downtown St. Paul is a return to the winter festival's past. While Winter Carnival has built 36 ice palaces in its 128-year history, the last one erected was in 2004.

The 2015 carnival could just be the tip of the iceberg, with more ice structures planned for the future.

"We're just trying to get some ice events back as part of St. Paul Winter Carnival, and we'll continue to build on them in the future," said Rosanne Bump, president and CEO of the St. Paul Festival and ­Heritage Foundation, which produces the carnival. "We are trying to start the process and give people additional reasons to come out."

Next year, the carnival may even feature a mini ice palace, Bump said. The carnival's first palace required more than 25,000 blocks of ice and was illuminated at night with electric lights using color globes. It was one of the first buildings in St. Paul to have electric lighting.

"That's always the number one question I get is, 'When's the next ice palace?'" Bump said.

The royal courtyard will be built with about 1,000 ice blocks harvested from Lake Phalen and will have 8- to 9-foot walls, she said. Renderings of the royal courtyard show curved walls with three corners anchored by colorful fabric coverings shaped into castle towers. The courtyard's final design may still change a bit, Bump said.

Organizers are trying to make the courtyard interactive, with a king's chair where people can take photos, a carnival buttons display, a sound and light show and cutouts of such characters as King Boreas and Vulcanus Rex. Plans also call for a fire element.

Festivalgoers will probably be charged a small fee to enter the courtyard, Bump said.

The ice for the courtyard will be harvested Jan. 17, in time for the carnival's Jan. 22 kickoff with the Moon Glow Pedestrian Parade. "Part of what the Winter Carnival is doing is giving people reasons to come outside and play, and so it's just another opportunity to get outside and enjoy the Minnesota winter," Bump said.

Nicole Norfleet • 612-673-4495

Twitter: @stribnorfleet