There are ice sculptures. Every winter, in the city square located next to the performing arts center, large blocks of ice are brought in to be sculpted by local artists competing for a grand prize of $500. The blocks of ice, weighing a total of 160,000 lbs,  are brought down from Fairbanks, which amazingly were carved out of a local lake two years ago, and kept for this very occasion. Ten teams of two people went to work this last weekend to finally finish on Sunday and reveal to the surrounding crowds their Crystal Gallery of Ice. This will be the competition’s eighth year. We took a stroll in the afternoon light but to witness them at night is a different story. Each ice sculpture is set up with lighting so that at night each one takes on a whole new face. We hope to make it back before mid February which is usually when each one will start to melt away, leaving behind nothing but good memories and beautiful pictures. To all the local artists who came together to bring us this masterpiece, we are utterly impressed and grateful for your talent. Thank you.

Someone got the best view

We attempted to recreate a sculpture but our young model wasn’t cooperating.

This one was by far my favorite. Those spiked balls were out of this world!

We made our way through the passerby’s and gazed at all the art pieces. After the chill got to us, we packed it in and of course made a quick stop for cocoa with lots of sprinkles, which I think is a perfect way to end any day. Hope all of your weekends started out as magical as ours.