In its 29th year, Ligonier Ice Fest offers visitors new additions

Visitors to the Ligonier Ice Fest might be too busy admiring the intricately carved ice sculptures to consider how the crystal-clear ice is made. It’s an intricate process, says Ernie DiMartino, owner of DiMartino Ice Co. in Jeannette, which produces them.

“The ice is totally clear. You could read a newspaper through it,” he says.

Water is frozen in a special ice block maker, freezing from the bottom up as the water continues to circulate throughout the process. Impurities rise to the top, and at the end of the process, the top 2 inches of water are pumped out — carrying those impurities away.

The block is lifted out and the top is planed smooth and — voila — there’s your 20-by-10-by-40-inch clear ice block.

DiMartino and company will provide sculptures for the 29th annual Ligonier Ice Fest on Jan. 25-26, as they have every year since the beginning.

Carving will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday and noon Sunday.

Sculptures will represent all manner of fish, fowl, flora and fauna, says event chairwoman Cindy Purnell. Expect lots of eagles.

“Everyone seems to love the eagles,” she says. “Eagles flying, eagles landing, eagles on a globe. They look very stately in the ice.”

New every year

“We try very hard every year not to repeat the same sculptures from the previous year,” Purnell says.

She and DiMartino come up with 90-plus design options from which sponsors can choose.

“We pay close attention to what we did the previous year, so every year it’s a new show,” DiMartino says. “Repeat visitors aren’t seeing the same old thing.”

Also new this year, visitors will be able to pick up a passport for a Ligonier Valley restaurant tour, good from Jan. 25 through April 30. The passport will contain “rewards, freebies and discounts” offered by participating area eateries, says Ruthie Stewart, event and marketing coordinator for the Ligonier Valley Chamber of Commerce, the ice fest sponsor.

Passports will be available for $5 beginning Jan. 25 at the Ligonier Valley Chamber of Commerce office, Carol and Dave’s Roadhouse and Abigail’s Coffeehouse. Participants turning in a completed passport to the chamber office by May 1 will be eligible to win a $200 Ligonier Experience gift basket.

The festival also will feature horse-drawn sleigh rides by Misty Haven Carriage from noon to 3 p.m. both days (weather permitting) and sales of Hanson’s Original Kettle Korn.

Saturday activities will include:

• Ligonier Radio broadcasting live on the Town Hall porch, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

• The Firemen’s Famous Spaghetti Dinner, 11 a.m. until sold out in Town Hall

• Free concert by Big Fat Jazz, 2 p.m. in Town Hall auditorium.

The fun continues on Sunday with:

• Free concert by Candle in the Wind, 12:30 p.m. in Town Hall auditorium

• Speed carving contest, 2 p.m. on the Diamond. Three DiMartino carvers will have 30 minutes to complete a sculpture from their own original designs. Favorites will be determined by audience vote.

“This shows the artists at their most creative,” Stewart says.

“There’s no money, no trophy — all they get is bragging rights,” Purnell adds.

Just no rain

The festival goes on, as Purnell likes to say, whether the temperature is 7 or 70. Warm or cold makes no difference to DiMartino — all he asks, he says, is that it doesn’t rain.

“Two years ago, it was 65 degrees and the ice was melting as fast as they could put it out, but the people still came,” Purnell says. “You could barely walk on the Diamond, it was so crowded.

“This festival comes at just the right time,” she says. “People have cabin fever and they want to get out and have some fun.”

New sculptures are brought in each day. While the majority are carved from one ice block, others are crafted out of multiple blocks.

Although Purnell says she doesn’t like to tell too much about them beforehand, there will be several large, interactive pieces like a throne that’s been “a huge, huge hit” in recent years.

Ligonier merchants also will offer festival specials, and many stores and restaurants will stay open late for “after dark” activities. The sculptures will be illuminated for nighttime viewing.

“People need to stick around after dark,” Stewart says. “The ice is really at its most beautiful at night.”