Social Ice in Rochester, MN
Howdy!
For several years, Rochester, Minnesota (USA) has had a winter festival called Social Ice. I have taken photos of several years' iterations. Perhaps because of the frigid temperatures or because it was early, there were few people milling around.
Ice "supports"
These first few images are from this year's festival. Above is underneath a bar counter, carved from ice. This year, the vast majority of the sculptures were part of local business' displays.
Victoria's Italian Restaurant's ice bar
As I mentioned, most of the sculptures were for local bars. It would be nice if there were more sculptures and a few more interesting things for children. There were a few families out and about, but the festival seems to have become very much more oriented toward alcohol consumption. There were a few interesting stand-alone sculptures, though. If you know what the next one is supposed to be, let me know in the comments...
You guess is as good as mine
This year saw several Dr. Seuss sculptures. I'm not sure I would say it was the "theme," as the other sculptures varied widely, but there were several.
Dr. Seuss themed sculpture
The entrance is pretty cool... both literally and figuratively this year! These large ice cubes have been formed around color changing lights. They weren't on yet, as it was early, but made for a nice photo.
Ice cube entrance lights
They took a big risk, doing this again. Last year, temperatures soared for the weekend of Social Ice. These roughly three-inch (about 7.5 cm) cubes were falling down from high overhead, causing people to jump out of the way. I don't believe anyone got hit, but it could have left a bump on an un-hatted noggin!
Here are some examples of previous years' ice sculptures:
2016, University of Minnesota themed
This is the best image I have from the 2016 Social Ice. Because temperatures were above 45 ºF (7.2 ºC), the sculptures were falling apart. As I mentioned earlier, the blocks at the entrance were falling down into the crowd. Other sculptures were having their appendages fall off or their features melt.
2015, Star Wars
The 2015 festival was, by far, my favorite. Because the new Star Wars movie was coming out, they went with that theme for Social Ice. I was working in the portrait studio at the time and we got off late. I decided to see the new festival (2015 was the first year!) and braved the bitterly cold temperatures. Fortunately, I had brought my personal camera to work that day, because it was slow season, and had a lot of fun.
Darth Vader
So, if you're in Rochester, MN, I would definitely suggest heading down to the Social Ice for a hot alcoholic drink from one of the bars. There's live music, too.
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@fotosdenada
Maybe they are thing one and thing two doing some sort of acrobatics?
I love ice sculptures - you did a great job capturing them.
Even though the most dangerous, I love the ice cube lights....I like the photo as well.
Thank you! This year was really cold, so the ice cubes weren't much of a danger. The year it was so warm, there were people jumping out of the way. I doubt getting hit would have caused much beyond a bruise, though, since most people had hats and they weren't all that sharp after melting.
Didn't make the original cut
At least you aren't like Toronto. They always have to close down major downtown streets because of glass falling off of high rises. Trump Tower was one of the worst!! lol
Ouch! That would be scary, having glass falling into the streets! Why does it not surprise me that Trump Tower is one of the bad ones? lol
THE best, THE biggest. Ugh. So tired of that name. Thankfully the Trump name is being removed from the Canadian hotels.
He does like his superlatives. Good thing, too, as he's the worst president. So wish I were back in Spain permanently!
I'll bet. Trump will always win - even when he loses - he'll be the best loser :) I'm glad Im not in the US. That's for sure.
Dang, glowing IV bags would have been fun to see! Loved the pics you took of the events!
Thanks! Rochester street photography feels more invasive, because of the medical conditions, but it would have been a brilliant photo! Maybe I'll get some "Med City" street photos this summer.
@fotosdenada ... this was an absolute treat, to see all the different ice sculptures on display. I will have to add Rochester to my list of places to check out, btw when do they host the winter festival?
Out of all these sculptures, Darth Vader was my favorite, although the kid in me was thumbs up for Dr. Seuss ;)
Thanks! There are some much better and larger winter festivals in the area. St. Paul, the state capital, has a really nice one where there's usually a huge ice building you can walk around inside. Both are in early February. I would have liked to have seen the St. Paul one, but the Superbowl was being held there, at the same time.
Most of the visitors to Rochester, Minnesota come for the Mayo Clinic. It's one of the leading research hospitals in the world, and they are able to figure out a lot of rare conditions. People watching in the summer is very odd. In the downtown area, you just get used to seeing people with missing limbs, face masks, pulling oxygen tanks, etc. I missed a great photo opportunity once, when there were these two old guys with IV poles sitting in a park, facing away from me. The light made their IV bags glow.
Thank you for sharing ;) I've never had the experience of enjoying ice sculptures before, so I'm looking forward to sharing this with my partner. We have a Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville too.
Yeah, Mayo has branches everywhere these days. The main campus is in Rochester, MN, where they seriously own pretty much the entire downtown area now. My last vision appointment was on the 19th floor of one of their buildings!
Here's a photo I took from the Gonda building last summer. I guess it doesn't really show much, aside from the blown glass art piece. The clinic has a lot of interesting art, both donated and purchased, but I'd still rather avoid hospitals!
I don't think anyone enjoys hospitals, the tension in the air, and the hours that just slip away, as you wait to be called. Personally, I avoid hospitals because I lost two siblings, a decade ago. But, I can see how having different pieces of art like in this photo, could help patients keep their minds on something aesthetically pleasing even if it is only for brief moments at a time.
Sometimes, abstract art doesn't look like anything familiar :) These sculptures are awesome with Darth Vader being my favorite one.
Hrm. It would have been the only "abstract" piece, so I thought maybe someone would recognize it. There were a few Dr. Seuss themed pieces, but that didn't look like anything I remember from Dr. Seuss. That one is in front of the jewelry store, so maye it had something to do with their jewelry displays? Or it could just be completely abstract!
The Star Wars themed Social Ice was the best one IMO. That was 2015, and was the first time they had the social. The sculpture of Yoda was amazing, but I couldn't get it to come out recognizable because of the way the lights hit it.
whaaaa?!?!...those are sooo cool! Love the Storm Trooper, looks like it would be an amazing place to snap some stills!
Cool in a literal way, as well! I liked the Star Wars one the best. This year was a little more random. There were a few Dr. Seuss themed things and then some completely off-the-wall ones. As you can tell, it's a little more impressive after dark :-)
That's interesting! Around my part of the world they use chainsaws and carve wood. It doesn't really stay cold enough down here for ice sculptures. I guess they could do it when the temperature hits 0 for a week straight though lol.
Thanks! I've actually seen them use chainsaws for ice sculpting. Crazy stuff. There used to be more of the wood carving up here in the north, but it seems to be a dying art form.
Yeah... We haven't been up above 20 degrees yet, this month. The lows have been brutal.
It was almost 60 here yesterday. That's warm for this time of year. We average in the 30s during February, but sometimes it drops below 0. I hate winter lol.
We're supposed to hit 17 for a high today. It's a good day to do homework.
Gross. I'm ready for Spring.
Fantastic pics! The sculptures are amazing.
Thank you :-)
brilliant shots! I think they are great!
Thanks! I wish I'd have had time for a drink, but maybe next year!
a different festival! really interesting.
There are not too many festivals in the country I live in. I enjoy seeing cultural things.
thank you