Racine Post: Snow carvers' lament: 'If only it were colder...'

December 19, 2009

Snow carvers' lament: 'If only it were colder...'

Fred Gardner with his Blind Date

A phrase you don't often hear in Winter was muttered frequently in Monument Square on Saturday. "I sure hope it gets cold tonight," the snow carvers were saying out loud -- to each other and to anyone who would listen.

In fact, the day's positively balmy 36° -- by snow-carving standards -- took an early casualty: Neal Vogt's charming monster, which he began carving about 6 a.m. Saturday, collapsed into a soggy snowpile in mid-afternoon, an object lesson to the 19 other carvers. Luckily, we took a picture of it about 9:30 a.m., so if you missed seeing it on the square, here it is at right!

Jeff Shawhan said the message was clear to all the carvers: rough out your sculpture, and hope for the expected freeze tonight. Don't do the fine detailed work until Sunday morning.

Gina Dilbertl echoed his warning. "I hope it freezes so I can finish this the way I planned," she said. "Until then, I want to spend some time in the hot tub!"

Public judging of the finished sculptures will be Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., with the results announced at 2 p.m. There will be three prizes chosen by the public: $500 for 1st place, $400 for 2nd and $300 for 3rd. And a final $100 prize for the sculpture judged best by the 20 carvers themselves.

Here's what some of the sculptures looked like about 3:30 p.m.