(driller buzzing) - It was our way of dealing with Covid actually, most of our events were in local auditoriums, all indoor events for the most part.

And we had to really get creative during Covid in order to stay relevant, to stay alive.

So we thought moving outside was our way of engaging people.

- [Adam] In February, 2022, a winter festival returned to Alpena.

- So the Ice Fest is our biggest winter event.

There's over 50 ice sculptures that are on display both downtown and over at Mich-e-ke-wis Park.

It's just like a great opportunity to get out and enjoy the community.

- You know, there's a lot of pride in history, what this community has done historically, and to keep those traditions alive.

This is different, it's not the same thing as Winter Carnival, but it has its own character, and I think people are building a greater and greater appreciation for what it brings to the community.

- [Adam] Now it's turn back time to understand what the Alpena Winter Carnival was.

Winter festivals became popular in the 1930s.

Several Northern Michigan communities held these events.

Alpena Carnival was a celebration of all things winter.

An outdoor ice rink was the hub of excitement where National Speed Skating (indistinct) were held.

And the best figure skaters from the region demonstrated their skills.

The town turned out to cheer on these performers and waited in anticipation to see who was going to be crowned queen of the year's carnival.

The event drew in hundreds of spectators.

Community members still talk about waiting for the snow train to pull into town, a train full of passengers coming to experience winter up north.

- My great grandparents used to live in Detroit and they remember taking the train up here because there wasn't a lot of snow down there at that time, like Alpena was just a winter wonderland.

You could do all these winter activities.

Thunder Bay Arts wanted to start a new winter activity inspired by that carnival, but maybe a little bit different flare, and that's how they came up with the Ice Festival.

- [Adam] Art is at the center of everything the council does, and the ice festival highlights art in nature that includes a healthy dose of family fun.

- To get out in the dead of winter, breathe in the fresh air.

We're really trying to get younger generations to engage with art, it's a creative way of getting people out, engaging in recreation, but at the center of that recreation is art.

In this case it's ice sculptures.

Ice like marble could easily crack, and if you're not careful how you actually engage the process of carving, you could run into lots of trouble.

You gotta have vision and kind of allow the image that you have in mind to reveal itself from this block.

- [Adam] The frozen sculptures started going out Friday night.

Ice Creations from Napoleon, Ohio brought in a truckload of sculptures and carved others right on site.

The sidewalks and street corners of downtown soon became home to impressive ice creations.

- Winter is a really slow time for the community, especially downtown.

You know, it's cold out, gets dark early, people don't always wanna leave their houses this time of year.

And so it's really a big boost for the businesses and also for the community to have something fun to do this time of year get out, you know, you see people that, you know, you meet new people.

It's just a great community event as well as a large economic impact too.

- It's that time of the year when people are yearning for something to do.

We're far enough away from the holidays and we're looking towards spring, but it's still a stretch.

And so I think even if we get slammed tomorrow, people will still come out.

- [Adam] Tim was right, winter was in full effect for the festival, but that didn't stop to community from coming out, just as he had hoped.

- Just to watch these young kids out there playing and I'm sliding down the hill and then we're playing a game and then they come over and admire somebody sculpting on ice and they'll just stare there, just stand there and stare on kind of an amazement.

And if that's the key is that, you know, if you ask them to come to an exhibit, they might not even come.

But if you integrate these things, it can really lead to an appreciation by a younger generation of people.

Where else would they have that opportunity?

And here we are out in the middle of the field in the dead of winter, and they're having fun, they're playing, but they pause for a moment to appreciate art and yet it's frozen water, and it'll disappear.

But it's a moment in time that they'll probably never forget.

- [Adam] The snow and frigid wind help create those lasting memories, especially for those who stuck around for the grand finale.

- This year we are doing something new, a literal fire in ice, and they'll build almost like a chimney out of ice block and then create a fire in the middle of it.

And it goes on for a while and you see this, you know, really strong vortex of fire up through the center of the ice.

And eventually it starts to melt and it implodes and it's apparently quite a little show.