Morinville artists will have two weeks this month to craft their coolest creations as part of an extra-long, extra-distanced Snowman Festival.
The Town of Morinville’s annual Snowman Festival is this Feb. 14 to 28.
This year’s festival will be much different than normal due to the pandemic, said town events and cultural programmer Kathleen Ducharme. It’s extra-long, at two weeks instead of three days, and extra-distanced, as it won’t have the usual hockey tournaments, free films and other mass gatherings.
“Everything you can do is within your household or on your own,” Ducharme said.
Residents can seek out hidden snowmen near the Morinville Fish and Game Pond, for example, and use the clues possessed by each to decipher a passphrase for a chance to win a $100 prepaid VISA card.
On Feb. 16, residents will be able to pick up two free activity kits from the town office from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and the community cultural centre from 5 to 7 p.m. (drive-thru only).
The Morinville Centennial Community Gardens Society will post a free online talk to show people how to use one of the kits to grow a tomato plant.
Morinville Art Club member and town Coun. Sarah Hall will demonstrate how to use the other kit to paint a painting of a snowman during another virtual seminar. (To paint an actual snowman, Hall suggested food colouring in a spray bottle.)
The Friends of the Morinville Community Library will be reading snowman-themed stories online during the festival and offering craft bags at the library starting Feb. 16 while supplies last. Residents should book a time to pick up their bags.
If you want a classic Canadian treat, the Association Canadienne-Français de L’Alberta will post bilingual instructions on how to make your own sugar shack as part of the Snowman Festival.
A town volunteer will also visit various neighborhoods while dressed as a snowman on Feb. 15, 20, 21 and 27. A map of the snowman’s location will be posted on the town’s website on Feb. 13.
Yes, I want to build a snowman
The marquee event of the festival will be the snow-sculpting contest, which this year has expanded to include ice sculptures. Residents can enter photos of their creations into a draw for a $100 gift card for a town business of their choice.
The Gazette asked St. Albert snow and ice carver Barry Collier for advice on how to build a spectacular snowman.
The Edmonton region currently has a lot of dry, powdery snow that’s ill-suited for the traditional roll-it-in-a-ball method of snowman construction, Collier said.
“The best thing to do is somehow build yourself a mould,” he said.
Construct a wooden box and start filling it with snow, stomping it down every six to eight inches, Collier said. Fill half the box one night and the second half the next. Remove the panels, and you’ll have a block of Styrofoam-like snow ready to be carved.
Use markers to draw your design on two sides of the block and hand saws to carve it, Collier said. Spray bottles can add an icy glaze to your creation for strength.
Collier said ice is tougher to work with than snow, as you need to use power tools. If you want to make some ice bricks, he suggested drilling holes in them as they freeze to prevent the water inside from causing cracks.
Hall encouraged families to head out this week and make a snowman together, adding her family has made hundreds of them in the past.
“That's the time (the kids) remember. It’s building those memories.”
Call Community Services at 780-939-7839 for more on the Snowman Festival.
