SCUPLT ON! —
Every year people gather around for one of the biggest ice sculpture carving events. Ice Artists travel from different places around the world to Fairbanks, Alaska to compete. The Ice Alaska Organization was founded in April 1990, in the state of Alaska, and is truly volunteer driven. It is powered by over 90 committees, a nine member board of directors, and over 300 volunteers. The 2014 event will host over 100 ice artists, representing 9 countries and, many areas of the United States. The result will be over 100 competition sculptures and exhibition pieces, and the ever-expanding playful ice attractions in the Kids Park!! If you like snow, hot chocolate, and wonderfully made ice sculptures, you might want to visit Fairbanks, Alaska.
Individuals from the communities around Interior Alaska Real Estate, neighborhood businesses, and major corporations. Every year, as many as 25 volunteers travel up from the lower 48 states and have come from as far away as Australia. Volunteers provide the talent and energy to put on the largest sculpting competition in the world. The contribution of time and energy by volunteers is an integral part of Ice Alaska’s successful presentation of the BP World Ice Art Championships. The over 90 committees manage everything about the event from the ice harvest, communication, registration and feeding the visiting artists, to the financing, marketing and publicity for the event. Ice Alaska conducts year round fundraising in support of the event.
Not only does this international ice sculpting competition feature over 100 sculptures, it also features a kids ice park!
Any time ice and snow are assembled in one place, kids find a way to have fun. The decision by local art enthusiasts to revive ice sculpting in Interior Alaska, and to organize an international sculpting competition – assembled ice and snow in one place, and as a result, kids have fun in their own ice fantasyland of slides, mazes and kid-friendly sculptures. The Kids Park beginnings are from the earliest piles of snow pushed aside to clear spaces to erect the sculptures. Of course, the kids didn’t see piles of snow, they saw mountains of snow to slide down. The adult volunteers enjoyed watching the kids having fun sliding on the piles, so they used the heavy equipment to push and shape the snow, to form higher snow piles in safe areas for the children to play while their parents viewed the ice sculptures. The result, in 1992 for the first time, an actual slide was designed and constructed from the excess snow – a four lane slide that delighted the children. So each year since 1992 a slide for kids to play on has been a regular feature at Ice Park. The early snow slides in the parking lots were soon joined by kid powered twirlees. After the years, there have been many different add-ons to the park. Fairbanks, Alaska 1995 a kindergarten teacher opted out of the competition to sculpt a series of turtles for kids to touch and climb on. These humble turtles were the real beginning of what is today’s Kids Park which is a playground for children of all ages constructed entirely out of ice.The current Kids Park has huge slides and covers several acres at the front of the park. Several years ago an ice rink was added and last year an additional area with natural slopes that easily cradle slides 200 – 300 feet long.
The Kids Park is open on the first day the park opens, the end of February, until the gates close for the final time on the last Sunday in March. This magical four acres of Ice Park is like any playground, only it is constructed entirely from ICE. There are slides and rides for all ages, challenging mazes, and life-sized sculptures of favorite animals, popular characters and toys to touch and climb on. Kids Park offers the finest in family entertainment!
If you happen to be in the town of Fairbanks, Alaska make sure you check out all the excitement going on at the BP World Ice Championships.
Start Time: 10am March 05, 2014
End: 10am March 30, 2014
Location: George Horner Ice Park
3050 Phillips Field Rd, Fairbanks, Alaska