Operation Recuperation

 25 years have passed since the Ice Storm, but memories live on. I have a coffee table book on the disaster, probably on the shelves of some of my Canadian readers as well, compiling photographs of journalists from across the affected region, telling the story of the storm. These memories of those who were there are well rendered in this display at the War Memorial.

I'll be returning to my Winterlude series after the theme day.

The Great Ice Storm

 Coming out of Sparks Street, I was surprised to see ice sculptures on the southern portion of the grounds of the National War Memorial. Coming closer, the reason for their presence made perfect sense. This was commissioned by Veterans Affairs to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Ice Storm. Early in January 1998, an ice storm blanketed eastern Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and the northeastern states, cutting off power and causing an extensive amount of damage, with lives lost. The disaster led to a military mobilization in Canada to help respond and get life back to normal. Ice sculptures here include a shattered hydro tower- one of the definitive images of that period of time.

A soldier armed with a chainsaw, working on the response, is rendered in ice form among the other figures of the set.

The Ice Storm left behind quite a legacy in many memories. For the military, it was a positive experience, after some years of negative public relations events. They were called to duty, and they really responded. And the people they helped loved them for it. A series of panels on the storm, with quotes from those in the service and others, is placed here. We'll see more of this tomorrow.

The Imagination

 The building of ice sculptures does draw a lot of attention from visitors.

Just down the street, a steel drum band was playing.

And for today I finish up with two takes of an ice sculpture set up for photo ops. We'll return to Sparks Street, and particularly when I close out the series, to see some of these ice sculptures in evening conditions, taken later on the same day when I took these.

Sea Monster

 Carving ice is something I would be totally incapable of doing. These carvers create marvels.

This one features a sea monster attacking a ship of long ago.

Time was running out, and still things to do for these carvers.

Fire and Ice

 Ice carvers here were busy with a challenging task in finishing off their work: using a flamethrower to create a perimeter around the sculpture. The flame is fed from the fuel tank behind this carver.

I believe their cut off time to be finished is four or five in the afternoon. These were taken roughly around one. By the time I came back for some evening shots, all of the sculptures were finished.