The Chainsaw & Chisel - 2017

HIGHLIGHTS

ATCO International Ice Carving Competition

Canada 150 theme with Ordinary People…Extraordinary Stories

School Programs

Bison Stew Off

L’il Chippers & Crafts

36,000 visitors

Online ticket sales up 13% over 2016

Website traffic up 7% over 2016

Facebook followers up by 22% over 2016

Twitter followers up by 6% over 2016

Instagram followers up by 30% over 2016

75 partners and sponsors contributed over $315,000 in cash and in-kind products and services

5th consecutive win for Team Sakha!

Egor Stepanov and Alexey Andreev of the Republic of Sakha in Russia, once again, impressed the judges and amazed visitors with Song of the Tundra. This beautiful ice carving showcased their incredible talent as the caribou, wolf, birds and hunter performed together in perfect harmony. Team Sakha also won the Metro People’s Choice Award for the visitors’ favourite carving. Congratulations Egor and Alexey!

Ordinary People...Extraordinary Stories

The Ice on Whyte Festival celebrated Canada 150 as six ordinary people came to life and shared their extraordinary stories with school children and festival visitors.

January 26 to 29:

Alex Decoteau - the first aboriginal police officer in Canada, WW1 soldier and extraordinary athlete;

Anthony Henday - one of Canada’s greatest explorers for the Hudson’s Bay Company;

Richard Hardisty - Chief Factor at Fort Edmonton and cattle rancher.

February 2 to 5:

William Jarvis - Northwest Mounted Police officer stationed at Fort Saskatchewan;

William Pace - connected the Yukon and Pacific Railway to the C&E Railway in Strathcona;

Margaret Martin - settled her family in Strathcona, built a house and held pink teas.

Thank you to Fort Edmonton Park and their talented interpreters who time travelled from our past to Ice on Whyte to share these amazing stories with our guests.

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International Ice Carving Competition

Thank you artists! Back Row: Mike Dunlop - BC; Valeriy Batalov & Eduard Ponomarenko - Russia; Maija Puncule & Karlis Ile - Latvia; Dominika Jarczok - Poland; Julio Martinez - Mexico; Edith van de Wetering - the Netherlands; Rusty Cox - BC; Steve Buzak - Edmonton; Wilfred Stijger - the Netherlands; Eileen Heidler - Judge; Ikuo Kanbayashi - Lead Judge. Front Row: Alexey Andreev & Egor Stepanov - Republic of Sakha in Russia; Kee Gawah - Malaysia; Austin Greenleaf - USA; Junichi Nakamura - Japan; Wanda Bornn - Festival Producer. Missing from photo: Ken Harper - BC, Kim Fjordbotten - Judge.

2nd Place: Nature of Life by the A-Team, Junichi Nakamura 3rd Place: Summer Wind by Jelgava, Karlis Ile and from Japan and Austin Greenleaf from the USA Maija Puncule from Latvia

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The Canada Cup of Ice Carving

There are only 3 International Ice Carving Competitions in Canada: the Ice on Whyte Festival in Edmonton, Ice Magic in Lake Louise and Winterlude in Ottawa.

These 3 International Ice Carving Competitions have partnered to create the Canada Cup of Ice Carving.

This competition will rotate between the 3 international competitions in Canada and the Canada Cup will be presented to the top international team that competes in Canada!

In 2016, the winning team from the 3 competitions qualified for a guaranteed berth at the 2017 Canada Cup. Team Sakha of Russia represented Ice on Whyte at the inaugural Canada Cup of Ice Carving at Winterlude in February, 2017 as part of Ottawa’s Canada 150 celebration.

The winning team of the inaugural Canada Cup of Ice Carving in Ottawa in 2017 was Michal Mizula from Poland and Samuel Girault from France.

The People’s Choice winner at the Canada Cup was determined by online voting via the Winterlude facebook page. This year’s winning team was Junichi Nakamura and Hideshi Terada from Japan.

The Canada Cup of Ice Carving will be hosted by Ice Magic in Lake Louise in 2018 and by Ice on Whyte in 2019!

Artist Choice Steve Buzak and Rusty Cox, ice carvers from Edmonton, AB and Fairmont, BC won the Artists’ Choice Award for Prosperity at Ice on Whyte.

Earlier in the season, Steve and Rusty travelled to Harbin, China to compete in one of the largest ice carving competitions in the world!

They place 2nd out of 32 teams at the Harbin Ice Carving Competition. Congratulations Steve & Rusty!

5 Block Challenge Five teams of local artists participated in the 5 Block Ice Carving Challenge on the final weekend of the Festival. Congratulations to Cliff & Mark for 1st Place People’s Choice for Carnivorfist Ramnocofist. Eileen Heidler placed 2nd and Barb and Ron Marcinkoski place 3rd. It is a thrill to encourage local artists to develop their ice carving skills at Ice on Whyte.

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Rocky Mountain House National Historic Site & Jasper National Park interactive activities

Ordinary People...Extraordinary Stories exhibits and storytelling

Old Strathcona Mural Painting Workshop. The Mural will be unveiled in on Canada Day!

Edmonton House Brigade→

←Forge & Ferrier

Canada 150 Celebrations

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The Giant Ice Slide was a big hit again this year. Cliff and Mark from our site production team created a fabulous double ice slide and The Rec Room hosted ice slide races on Friday and Saturday evenings.

Ice on Whyte hosted 2 school programs; the L’il Chipper ice carving lessons and the Ordinary People Extraordinary Stories program showcasing characters from our local history. Forty school groups with over 1,000 elementary and junior high students participated in the L’il Chipper program. Twenty five school groups with over 700 elementary and junior high students participated in the Ordinary People...Extraordinary Stories program. School groups traveled from as far away as Round Hill and Okotoks to participate.

The CTV Entertainment Tent was expanded to a much larger tent that could accommodate the live entertainment, the Second Cup Café, the Beer Geeks Anonymous Saloon, the Stew Off as well as the Historic Exhibits.

The Second Cup Café was run by Edmonton Meals on Wheels volunteers as a joint fundraiser for themselves and Ice on Whyte. Thank you Second Cup on Whyte!

Two adult only nights were hosted in the Entertainment Tent - the Vaudeville Revue and the Freeze Your Cask Off evenings.

Ice on Whyte partnered with the Edmonton Beer Geeks Anonymous to host Freeze Your Cask Off, a very special Alberta craft beer tasting evening. The event sold out in advance and guests enjoyed tasting the 10 different craft beers from Alberta brewers.

Boogie Patrol rocked the house on the first Saturday night. This is the 8th consecutive year that Boogie Patrol has performed at the festival. Le Fuzz entertained visitors on the first Sunday night with multicultural music and stories. Punch Drunk Cabaret rounded out the entertainment on the final Saturday along with Martin Kerr on the final Sunday.

The L’il Chipper Igloo was transformed into the Second Cup Café and live music venue for families on both Friday nights. Benjamin Williams, Soap Box Duo, Danielle Deighton and Nick Samoil shared their musical talent with visitors.

Five local restaurants and local chefs participated in the Old Strathcona Farmers’ Market Heritage Bison Stew Off, filling the tent with the aromas and tastes of local deliciousness. Congratulations to the Next Act for Best Stew!

The Fire & Ice Finale show began with a resounding sing-a-long of “We’re From Everywhere” followed by the lighting of the fire. It was a very cold evening and visitors huddled in around the warmth of the fire for over an hour to watch the amazing fire and ice show till it spectacularly crashed to the ground!

Outdoor Fun...School Programs...Entertainment...and more

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THANK YOU!

Volunteers & Interns

108 volunteers and post-secondary interns contributed over 2,600 hours of service for the Festival. These dedicated individuals helped with many aspects of festival visitor services and production.

Sponsors & Partners

This year, 75 businesses supported the Ice on Whyte Festival with over $65,000 in cash contributions and over $225,000 in in-kind support.

The Ice on Whyte Festival would not be successful without the support of these community minded businesses.

Media Local media outlets visited the festival and shared our festival news stories with the public.

Edmonton Tourism & Travel Alberta

Ice on Whyte is very fortunate to work closely with Edmonton Tourism and Travel Alberta, not only to share our story in Alberta and Canada but overseas as well. Several travel media and bloggers visited us this year and will share our stories around the world.

Visitors favourite part of the festival:

Visitors came from:

ICE ON WHYTE PRODUCTION TEAM Producer: Wanda Bornn Operations Manager: Marie Scarlett Program Director: Linda B Snider Site Manager: Gordon Shepherd Intern Manager: Jill Roszell Volunteer & School Programs Coordinator: Sarah Fabrizius Slide Builder and Artist: Mark Berge Slide Builder and Artist: Cliff Vacheresse Site Builders: Morris Bujarski, Bruce Barss, Chris Hicks, Anne Wenschlag, Renee Jobson, Richard Horn Visitor Services Coordinator: Mari Benoit Social Media Specialist: Lincoln Ho School Program Site Coordinator: Kim Galarneau Canada 150 Interpreter Coordinator: Andrea House Canada 150 Researcher: Stephen Lowe

Children’s Crafts Coordinator: Lynette Maurice Sound Technician: Todd Kuziw Artist Transportation: Bill Hallam

ICE ON WHYTE BOARD OF DIRECTORS President: Rob McDonald Vice President: Murray Davison Treasurer: Matt Chapman Directors John Mayne, Karli Anderson, Beth Mossop, Barry McGuire

The Ice on Whyte Festival Society is a registered charity that produces the Ice on Whyte Festival, Sand on Whyte and Ice on Whyte in Your Town (an outreach program that brings winter festivals to rural Alberta communities).

To get involved please contact: Wanda Bornn, Festival Producer 780-758-5878 or info@iceonwhyte.ca. Rm 12, 7730—106 Street, Edmonton, AB T6E 4W3

Partner Ticket Sales

Ice on Whyte rewards sponsors and partners with Get in Free tickets to distribute to staff and clients as well as special 2-for-1 tickets to sell through their own promotional outlets. This year 5,144 visitors attended the festival as a result of these promotional activities.

US 1%

OTHER CANADA 2%

EDMONTON 66%

GREATER EDMONTON 19%

SOUTHERN ALBERTA 3%

CENTRAL ALBERTA 4%

EASTERN ALBERTA 2%

NORTHERN ALBERTA 2%