“Competition: rivalry for supremacy; the act of trying to get or win a prize or a higher level of success that someone else is also trying to get or win.”
The Single Block horn blared this afternoon at 12:30PM, signaling the beginning of the last of the three carving competitions at this year’s World Ice Art Championships. Thirty artists will be sculpting one block of ice, approximately 6’ by 4’. The sculptures will have a maximum height of 10’. The horn will blow for the last time at 9:00PM on March 1st. The Award ceremony will be on the 2nd of March at 9:00PM.
The field of artists include twenty-two Americans, seven from the Russian Federation and one from Japan. The names of the sculptures, as in the Double Block, promise whimsy and imagination. Some of the names include: Bee Cool, Blooming Beauty, Grin and Bear It, Kung Fu Mantis, and the one that sounds especially intriguing, Tornado From Hell.
The Enchanted Forest will soon be buzzing again with the sound of chainsaws. The artists first have to transfer their sketches onto the ice, then etch them into the ice with a chisel. Once that is done, carving with the big tools begins. Single Block is a short competition so the woods will be alive tomorrow. Since this is the last chance to watch the artists at work, plan on coming to the Fairgrounds in the next day or two. A fun side note: a visitor asked one of the ladies in the giftshop if the sculptures would still be here in June if he came back when it was warmer. The answer of course is no; by April the sculptures will have melted and by June the snow will be gone and the temperatures may be in the seventies.
A special thank you to the dedicated volunteers who sell the tickets for this special event.
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