Spanning one of the coldest weekends to one of the warmest, this year’s Ice on Whyte festival has seen it all. Mack and I headed to Old Strathcona on Saturday to check it out, hoping that the ice sculptures hadn’t yet been reduced to puddles.
A part of Winter Light
There were a ton of people out, more than we’ve ever seen at the festival – we wondered if the high attendance numbers were attributable to the weather, or perhaps to the theme?
Large crowds
This year’s festival had a Chinese theme, with nine carvers from Harbin, China having travelled to Edmonton to collaborate on everything from the dragon slide to the pagodas.
Welcome
Both the gate and the pagodas were equally impressive (and seemed to be popular photo backdrops), but I had a soft spot for the ice zodiac, and couldn’t help but pose for a picture next to my representative animal.
That’ll do, pig
Mack’s favourite ice sculpture was the Transformer – though we appreciated the abstract and interpretive nature that made up a number of sculptures, it was a nice surprise to see one based on popular culture.
Transformer
Ice on Whyte appeared to be larger than in past years – there were a number of snow sculptures on display as well.
Still at work
In addition to the always-popular ice slide, there were several smaller ice slides as well in a children’s play area, complete with a small ice maze.
Maze
Slide pretty for the camera!
Next up for Winter Light is Illuminations, this Saturday, January 29, featuring a snowball battle, choir performances, and circus pyrotechnics. See you there!
You can see the rest of our photoset here.
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