Two days to go…. While the park is getting its finishing touches, I headed inside today in order to check out the gift shop which is getting set up. The two ladies in charge are Karen Lane and Elaine Eads who will be aided by lots of helpful volunteers. So far, I have seen some beautiful new t-shirts, sweatshirts, some magnets and pins. The fun showpiece for this year will be the Silent Auction. Elaine has done an outstanding job of collecting donations from businesses all over town. There are gift certificates from The Cookie Jar restaurant, Greens Bar and Grill, Lavelle’s Bistro. There are lots of toys being auctioned from The Toy Quest. I personally love the 3D Cinderella Castle puzzle. There is an immunity basket from Sunshine Health Foods, a Hoarfrost Vodka, Limoncello, simple syrup basket. Quite an ensemble of “goodies” you can bid on. Write your bid on a list in front of each item and the winners will be announced March12. (I know what I’ll be bidding on) Also in the gift shop will be offerings from Arctic Habanero’s, owned by Joe Fields. You will be able to get delectable goodies such as hot dogs and chili dogs, nachos, pretzels and cheese, donuts and mac and cheese. Don’t let the name habanero fool you. Joe assured me not everything will be “habanero hot”. Sleds will be available to check out in the gift shop also. There is no cost for borrowing a sled, but you will need to leave a credit card or driver’s license for the duration of the time you will be using the sled. The slides look pretty amazing so you will want to come borrow a sled and have a go of it. After talking about the food, I needed to head outside. There I met four outstanding young college students. They are here in Fairbanks with their culinary instructor, Chris Foltz, from Southwestern Oregon Community College in Coos Bay, Oregon. Each student has a block of ice and is carving an animal indigenous to Alaska. According to the student carving the bear, they have all done smaller versions of their animal as part of their culinary classes but nothing the size of which they are working on now. It will be fun to watch the progress of these delightful young people. And so we are getting closer to the opening of Ice Alaska and the beginning of the competitions. Artists are arriving with all their tools, looking at their sites. The first signs of excitement and hectic activity are becoming apparent. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.