Ice Fest

To begin, I am sorry that it has been a while since I have been on. 
I picked up a computer bug the other day while trying to snag a coupon off of facebook.  The coupon had been hacked and a bug was attached, or least it appears that a bug was attached because I have had computer issues ever since.  My wonderful husband has promised to sit down at the computer and remedy the problem but has not yet.   Nothing is working as smoothly as before and my time is too limited to work with all of its kinks, but I decided to take the time this afternoon and fill you in on the latest.

 I was sharing with my friend, Teri, in Michigan that our little town has festivals every month sometimes even more than once a month. Last weekend was Ice Fest.

Bonnie, Autumn, and I walked downtown to see what this festival was all about.  Everyone was worried that the festival would be rained out.  The temperatures stayed above freezing but the rain didn't come until evening. 

During Ice Fest, the town has all kinds of competitions for individuals and teams to compete in.  For  just a few dollars, you can sign up you and your family or friends to compete in the most unusal events. 

For example, smooshing....

Smooshing is a race that involves two 2 X 4s with shoe straps on each board.  Four people line up, strap their shoes in, and with synchronized movements smoosh their way down the road.

Behind the town on Black Bird Island, a few dog sled teams lined and up gave tourists rides on their sleds. 

It looked like a lot of fun to go for a ride.  Later in the day, the dog sled teams headed for Front Street to compete in different races.

If you walked farther down the highway to the Lion's Club Park you would find the snow sculpture competition.  One of our friends, Cheryl, and her family compete in this every year.  They made a snow sculpture of Stuart Little in his row boat.  It was really cute.

The river rock fireplace was the most intricate of the snow sculptures and obviously the crowd favorite.

Of course, the kids all loved the igloo, mainly because they could all climb inside.  Bonnie said she could stand up inside of it.

Did you know you could spray paint snow?  I didn't, but obviously you can.  I thought this was a good one of Frog and Toad.

We saw all kinds of sculptures.   Some tried to depict Leavenworth, some came from story books,  there was one of superman standing up, and a boat on the river.  The weather was perfect for the snow sculpture.  With the warmer weather the snow was wet and easy to pack.  I am already thinking of plans for what I would like to do next year.  Bonnie is game so we might just have to sign up for this one.

The next day it rained all day. I thought the Ice Fest might be rained out but around five we saw that the snowboarders had come out to do some tricks on the hill next to the gazebo.  The family put on their snow/rain gear and walked downtown to watch the show.  The city had built a couple of snow ramps and put up a rail for the snowboarders to do some tricks on. 

Later in the evening the city put on a spectacular firework show.  I am sure it wasn't the best Ice Fest ever with all the rain but it still was fun.  I am hoping next year the weather will be cooperative.