Ice festival opens in Ligonier

Artists from Jeannette’s DiMartino Ice will be in Ligonier on Saturday and Sunday with tools — including chainsaws — to shape multiple blocks of ice into eight giant outdoor sculptures.

The carving is just element of the Ligonier Ice Festival continuing through the weekend.

New sculptures will be created beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Visitors will have the opportunity to try out an oversized chair fashioned from ice at the Diamond bandstand.

The town’s sidewalks will be lined with dozens of ice carvings, sponsored by more than 60 businesses and organizations. Smaller single-block sculptures will be hand-carved in advance by DiMartino staff and then positioned in town beginning Friday.

The band Candle in the Wind will perform a free concert at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Town Hall auditorium, with a mix of jazz, R&B, early rock and roll, pop and classic rock. Flow N’at, a group of fire spinners, will offer shows at 5 p.m. Saturday in Bank Alley.

Also Saturday, Ligonier Volunteer Hose Co. No. 1 will serve a spaghetti dinner in the Town Hall community room, from 11 a.m. until the meals are sold out.

Indoor merchant sales and horse-drawn carriage rides will be offered, weather permitting.

While other festival activities will come to a close Sunday, the ice sculptures will remain as long as cold temperatures continue.

Visit the chamber website, ligonier.com, for more information about the Ice Fest and other planned events.