Lake Geneva's Winterfest - U.S. National Snow Sculpting Competition
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Every winter, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin's Winterfest is an exciting celebratory event that welcomes the best snow-sculpting artists to come and showcase their talents right in front of the historic Riviera on Geneva Lake. The United States National Snow Sculpting competition awards the best artists all while delighting visitors with the artist's masterpieces for the weekend. This is one of my personal favorite winter activities and I always look forward to it. I have been bringing my family to this festival for over 20 years now. Some years are better than others as sometimes rain or warm weather can cause the event to not be well attended. On the ideal years, the weather stays nice and cold allowing for the sculptures to turn out great and be seen all weekend. Come along with me as I show you some of my favorite memories from past years and tell you a little more about this year's exciting event.
I think it is most exciting to visit while the sculptors are actually creating the sculptures. It is a great family event that is totally free. Most of the artists will talk to visitors and they have always been willing to talk with my children, explaining to them the different tools they use, and how they get the different effects. It is fun to see their models or drawings that they usually have on hand to work from and hear about their inspiration. Sometimes the artists are inspired by biblical stories, fantasy, superheroes, political issues, environmental issues, science, history, etc. It is always a very inspiring time and often my children have come home inspired to make their own snow sculptures in our yard. One year, we had a family snow sculpting competition inspired by this event and we had our Facebook friends be the judges. It was great fun.
The artists work all day and throughout much of the night. If you live in the area, it is neat to visit a few times throughout the week to see the progress being made before judging day, which takes place on Saturday. Besides having a first, second and third place award, they always give a People's Choice award. This gives you the opportunity to vote for your favorite sculpture as well.
There is something unique about meeting people who find such joy in working so hard creating sculptures that will be destroyed by wind, rain or warmer temperatures within a matter of days. I personally like doing art that stays done. However, these artists live for these moments and they are fully dedicated. I have seen them out working in below zero, dangerously freezing temperatures. They are die-hard, cold weather artists and I find them to be completely inspirational.
The Geneva Theater will be hosting free movies throughout the festival if you need a place to warm up and be entertained for a while. On Wednesday, they are showing Fargo (R), Thursday, The Shining (R) both at 7:30pm. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday they are showing the family-friendly Frozen II during various times. At 10:00pm on Saturday, they are showing Better Off Dead and if you come dressed up in Retro 80's ski attire, you get in free. On Sunday, they are showing Ground Hog Day at 12:00pm for free, but are collecting donations for the Fellow Mortals Wildlife Hospital.
Thursday through Sunday, you can go on an Ice Sculpture walk in downtown Lake Geneva and view yet another type of winter art form. There are plenty of unique shops in Lake Geneva to browse and warm up in. Many of them will be offering hot cocoa throughout the weekend for cold shoppers.
Sometimes things don't go quite as the snow carving artists had planned and sculptures fall over before judging day. It is something to be expected in this particular field of art. I find that the artists have a wonderful sense of humor about it even though I am sure they get frustrated. I have seen funny signs like these by the ones that don't work quite right. Some years have been so hard for them weather-wise. The carvers are often fighting against unseasonably warm temperatures or rain and the difficult sculptures they had planned just cannot hold up. Their sense of humor about it all makes me smile.
Visiting at night time makes for some fun photography as you can position yourself to get the light shining on the sculptures against a black background, really making the sculptures stand out. Bright blue sunny days, and overcast, cloudy days, offer yet a different perspective on the sculptures.
There are many more activities happening throughout the weekend, such as a laser light show, cocoa crawl, fire-spinner performances, chili cook-off, art activities, fireside smores and sounds, a marketplace, ice castles, ice skating, Winter Carnival at the Grand Geneva, etc. Check out their website for a full schedule.
The Winter Carnival torchlight ski parade, lantern release, and fireworks at the Grand Geneva in Lake Geneva are a real highlight that you won't want to miss. The skiers ski down the hill carrying torches and it is really quite a thing to witness. The fireworks show is just a nice way to end the evening of fun. They also have lots of games throughout the day, face painting, skiing, snowboarding, a rail-jam competition, balloon artist, toboggan races, etc. For a full schedule of this event, visit their website.
If you happen to participate in any of this year's Winterfest activities, leave me a comment and let me know what your favorite part was.
Until next time, always choose the scenic life!
Hannah Babiak is a stock photographer and travel blogger. For writing assignments or ideas for future posts, please contact her at alwayschoosethesceniclife@gmail.com or leave a comment below.
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