Fairbanks Ice Festival

Went to the World Ice Art Championship up here in Fairbanks last weekend. In a land of fairly high prices, the tickets were $15 for each person, unlimited access through the end of the Championships. A good bargain, so The Mrs. and I got one each, and The Boy didn't need one, being four and free. If you click on the various pictures, you can get more detail. Believe me, these are worth it. Despite any fun I might poke, the people who did this work are very talented, and the sculptures that they've made are wonderful.

The clock above, despite being pretty, appears to be entirely non-functional. I didn't see the pendulum swing (despite sitting and waiting for some time) and it was about 3pm when we were there, versus the five 0'clock shown. Maybe the mechanism is frozen.

Anyhow, I've heard some lore about the Championship that I thought was worth passing along. When the Championship was first getting in gear, I hear that several people were very upset - they trucked in ice from Minnesota to using in the carvings. Now, imagine that.

Importing.
Ice.
To Alaska.

Yeah, sounds silly. I hear, though, we have the recipe down now, and that these are made of real Alaskan ice.