Snow And Ice Carvings

Today I am beginning my Winterlude series, which is going to last into March. 2018 marks the 40th edition of the festival, which draws many people into Ottawa and Gatineau for the three week event. I am starting with shots that I took in the days before the festival itself got underway. I mentioned some days ago about the blocks of snow waiting to be carved. This is one of them, in the Glebe, with an Olympic theme.

Down the street was another one that was a work in progress. I showed you the full block in a post some days ago. Blocks had been cut off from it when I took these shots. I'll have the finished version later in the series. This work is actually the subject of a bit of poignant news that Jennifer brought up in an earlier post- the carver who started this, Brian Clemence, died of a heart attack driving home one day while this was being done. Mr. Clemence, who's been doing snow carving for thirty years during Winterlude, was described as "happiest when working on a project, preferably outside in the snow, surrounded by friends and family." His family decided to finish this final sculpture, a dedication to the late musician Gord Downie.

And down the street, two carvers were just getting to work on another of the blocks, working with chainsaws. 

These two shots are evening shots, taken in Confederation Park, where some of the exterior ice carvings were already completed, though behind barricades, as the event was not yet open when I passed through.