Ice and snow sculptures are the quintessential attractions of the St. Paul Winter Carnival, but they’re a drain on festival coffers.
Lacking the kind of corporate cash needed to pay for the sculpting competitions, festival organizers are turning to you for help.
The massive ice blocks used to build the carvings in Rice Park go on sale today. At $122 apiece, they may be the most expensive chunks of ice you’ll ever come across.
The producers of the 122nd Winter Carnival are hoping you – or your Lions Club, your Boy Scout troop or your business – will buy a 300-pound block to save a time-honored tradition. They’re calling the concept “stock in a block.”
“It gives the opportunity for the community as a whole to buy a piece of the carnival and keep strong the real draws of the carnival, which are snow and ice,” said Kathy Bjerke, board chairwoman of the St. Paul Festival and Heritage Foundation.
A lackluster economy and unpredictable weather have conspired to threaten the glistening ice sculptures. For the past three years, many carvings melted early under an unforgiving sun.
Sponsors have told the foundation they want to put their money behind a guaranteed product, said Kate Kelly, the foundation’s president and chief executive officer. Total sponsorships are down $200,000 from the same time last year. The organization has an annual budget of about $1 million.
The 2008 festival comes to Rice Park Jan. 23 to Feb. 3, overlapping with the U.S. Figure Skating Championships at the Xcel Energy Center. Kelly has had to give up on a plan to build a “city of ice” in Rice Park that would have featured columned archways and frozen replicas of Mickey’s Diner and other St. Paul landmarks. The foundation couldn’t justify the $130,000 price tag, she said.
Larry Fischer, who usually serves as the carnival’s master ice carver, said he hopes the foundation – and the public – will find a way to keep the carving exhibitions alive.
“If the competition happens, there are carvers who will want to participate,” Fischer said. “And if it doesn’t happen, they’ll be disappointed, and the community will be, too.”
The carnival has asked the public to pay for ice before. The community purchased blocks that eventually built the 1986 and 1992 ice palaces, said Bob Olsen, a carnival historian.
But Olsen couldn’t recall a time when the carnival asked the community to sponsor such a basic attraction like the ice carvings.
“If you’re going to have a Winter Carnival, the images you have in your head are of ice and snow,” Olsen said. “It seems like it should be something that should be provided. You have the commitment of providing the illusion, the allure.”
The foundation is trying to raise $122,000 to pay for the costs of managing the ice- and snow-sculpting events. A small portion of that would buy meals for 1,400 homeless people at the Dorothy Day Center.
The purchased ice is clear and solid. The traditional supplier, Randy Hennen of Sculpture Ice in Shakopee, said he usually charges $80 per block.
If carnival organizers don’t reach their fundraising goal, they’ll find a way to continue the competitions next year. But they’ll have to sacrifice some things, Kelly said.
“There will be snow and ice in Rice Park,” she said. “But what it looks like will depend on how this goes.”
Kelly’s group has been wrestling with how to make the festival financially responsible in a time of dwindling community participation.
The board voted to eliminate one of the carnival’s twin parades last year, a controversial move that was avoided when carnival diehards raised the money to keep the traditions intact.
The foundation’s sponsorship problems reflect the struggles of many nonprofits during a sluggish economy, said Bjerke, the group’s board chairwoman.
“It’s a sign of the times,” she said. “The pool of dollars are shrinking, and there are so many organizations to give to.”
Although the organizers are pitching the ice blocks as shares of the carnival, the so-called shareholders shouldn’t expect to collect any profits. But $122 will get you a “certificate of ownership” and a chance to walk in a carnival parade.
Laura Yuen can be reached at lyuen@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5498.
HOW TO BUY AN ICE BLOCK
Cost: $122
Where: 10 a.m. today at the St. Paul Winter Carnival button bash, at the Wells Fargo WinterSkate rink near Landmark Center. After today, blocks can be purchased at www.winter-carnival.com.
Copyright 2007 Pioneer Press.
