Carved in Ice returns to Diamond Park
On Friday morning, sculptors from DiMartino Ice Company unloaded giant blocks of ice from their trucks and stacked them into three walls of about 5 feet each around Diamond Park.
The ice had been frozen in a process that removed any air bubbles from the interior, and the sculptors used water as mortar and some dry ice to smooth out the surface, according to ice sculptor Jared McAlister, of the DiMartino Ice Company.
Three sculptors would spend the evening hours from 5 until around 8 p.m. using a chainsaw to carve the ice into sculptures, including a firetruck and a police car.
If you were watching from the front row Friday evening, like Patti and Marley Eisenhuth were, you may have gotten a little wet.
“We didn’t know what to expect, but we were pretty excited about it,” said Patti Eisenhuth, of Sarver. “We’ll probably stay until we get too cold.”
The annual Carved in Ice festival is back Friday and Saturday at Diamond Park, and although the sculptors finished their artwork Friday night, it is still on display Saturday at the park.
Dena Martinez, event chairwoman for the Butler AM Rotary, said the event will display about 100 smaller ice sculptures prepared by the ice company from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. Saturday that were purchased by local businesses that sponsored their own ice blocks.
Proceeds generated from the event, mainly through the sponsored ice blocks, will benefit the Butler County First Responders Memorial and Pavilion at Alameda Park and the Butler AM Rotary Charities Annual Giving Fund, Martinez said. Diehl Toyota is a main sponsor of the event for the sixth year in a row.
There also will be 11 food trucks; activities for children, such as an ice slide; carriage rides; and fire hula hoop performers.
“The idea is just to have an event especially aimed at the kids,” Martinez said.
McAlister said Friday that the ice should stay frozen throughout the duration of the event Saturday.
“It’s a hard frozen ice with no air, so that’s why it’s completely clear,” he said. “Each block is about 265 pounds and it’s enough to keep itself cold. It melts a lot slower than the ice from your freezer.”
McAlister said the shapes to be carved were carefully planned out, so the sculptors could create accurate shapes. The sculptors used chainsaws to slice the ice walls into the shape of their subjects, and then used picks and shovels to scrape detail into the ice. While using a chainsaw on the ice, debris would fly high into the air and the sculptors would end up surrounded by shaved ice.
The rain predicted for Friday night meant the sculptors had to keep the rest of the carved blocks in a truck so they wouldn’t be ruined by the moisture.
Martinez said the event garnered thousands of attendees in previous years. One year it was 70 degrees on a Saturday, and about 7,000 people came through the fest, she said. The goal for this ice festival was about 5,000 people.
Martinez said the Rotary club got the idea for the event from a similar one in Franklin, but it has become a fun tradition in Butler, as well.
“It’s a fundraiser for the club and our project,” Martinez said. “And it’s nice to watch the sculptors make the sculptures.”
