High On Ice

This weekend is the High on Ice Festival here in Fort St John. This is an annual event which has done quite well in attracting lots of spectators and competitors. The big thing is the ice carving, similar to the sand sculptures in Parksville but (obviously) done in ice! This year they were able to harvest the ice from local lakes (because it was sooooo cold) so there was an added element to the event.

The theme this year was "The Ice Age" so there were carvings of dinosaurs and fossils

There were also quite a few carvings of the characters from the movie "Ice Age" The kids particularly like any that had the squirrel in them!

Apart from the carving competitions there were also an ice fishing derby. They also have lots of kids activities like toboggan races, horse drawn sleigh rides, crafts and this amazingly awesome ice slide that they made for the event.
The ice slide was probably the highlight for my kids, I am hoping we get a chance to go back this evening as the slide had Christmas lights frozen inside it which would look very cool and all the sculptures (which should be completed this afternoon as they are still working on them when we were there)

This sculpture of the characters from the movie is still under construction...

had special lighting. They also built an ice chimney which they will light a fire in to end the event.

This is the chimney that they will be lighting up tonight

Quite a fun way to spend the weekend anyway, something unique to the North!

Even the concession stand was made of ice!