Collingwood’s classic Christmas festival is all about capturing moments, and the group responsible for freezing time has been putting the plans on ice for a couple months already.
The ice is formed in Hensall, ON in careful layers of clear water, a meticulous process meant to create an installment that captures time immemorial for a fleeting moment.
Iceculture Inc. is the team behind the ice sculptures that line Hurontario Street for the Frozen in Time Festival each year.
Chelsey Van Hell is an event facilitator at Iceculture, and she works with BIA manager Susan Nicholson to plan the ice sculptures each year. This year’s theme is Sports Through the Ages, since the festival will be running simultaneously with a Hometown Hockey stop in Collingwood.
“We come up with the designs,” said Van Hell. “Sue [Nicholson] works with us on the theme and sizes and sponsorships, and we always try to relate the design back to Collingwood - the town and its historical past.”
This year, Iceculture is bringing 25 sculptures and carving another one live on site on Dec. 29.
Iceculture was born from a catering company. The caterers started making bowls out of ice for the presentation quality, and switched from ovens to freezers. Now, the company produces sculptures for events all over the world, including Disney events, and the NASA shuttle return-to-flight program.
The company now has one location where they make 20 by 40 inch blocks of ice from reverse osmosis treated water that is frozen from the bottom up to prevent debris and bubbles inside the ice block.
There is one full-time head carver, and two others who work as carvers and fill other roles (one in operations and one in graphic design).
About two months ago, the team started carving sculptures for Collingwood, and storing them at -9 Celcius in a warehouse-sized freezer. Depending on the size and complexity of the design, the carvers will spend about three hours carving each sculpture.
Their toolbelt is varied from large items like chainsaws and disc grinders, to smaller tools for more precise cuts like chisels, bur bits, and dremels.
A computerized etching machine will do fine details such as logos.
The carvers are taught in house, and come from varied backgrounds. The three carvers currently have previous careers in art, graphic design, and sound engineering.
This year, in addition to the sculptures, the town has commissioned an ice slide, which is exactly as it sounds.
Ice blocks are cut and stacked into a double wide, 40 foot long slide that’s 40 inches tall. The slide will be set up beside town hall.
Once all of the sculptures are completely carved and ready to go, they are packed in boxes and delivered to the event. The Iceculture operations team will be in Collingwood on Dec. 27 to do the set up.
If conditions are right (below zero temps, cloudy skies) the ice sculpture details can last a month or more. A warm weekend will cause some rapid deterioration. Indoors, they have about six hours.
This year’s Frozen in Time festival includes an ice carver’s showdown called Battle of the Chainsaw on Saturday and Sunday (Dec. 29 and 30). You’ll be able to see all the ice sculptures on a family wagon ride that starts at 11 a.m. and runs in intervals until 3 p.m. beginning at the Collingwood bus terminal on Pine and Second Street.
There’s more ice this year with an added free skate at 5 p.m. and a celebrity sledge hockey game at 7 p.m. at the Eddie Bush Memorial Arena.
For a schedule of the Frozen in Time Festival events, click here.
