Mohican Winterfest ice sculptures capture fleeting beauty

For many years Loudonville has hosted the Mohican Winterfest, and it has taken place in frigid cold, almost sweltering heat, snow squalls, rainstorms and every weather imaginable.

This year on Saturday, Jan. 10, it was warm and raining, but that didn’t stop people from venturing in to watch ice carving professionals from Elegant Ice in Cleveland fashioning works of art on the park grounds near the square.

Even in the rain, families and couples climbed out of their vehicles, umbrellas in hand, and ventured to the park, where Elegant Ice professionals used their skills to shape massive blocks of square ice into a dancing bear, a sailboat, a buffalo, a unicorn, an eagle or whatever design they could create from their arsenal of ideas.

It was neat to see young children hoisting blocks of discarded ice, exploring them, feeling the slickness, even touching their tongues to the ice pieces.

But above all, this adventure was about watching something as inanimate as a block of ice turn into art, as sculptors took a blowtorch to each piece, drawing out the beauty.

Mike and Whitney Ross from Eaton, near Dayton, have made a point of attending this event annually. Like many, they were taken by the beauty and elegance of the ice from the moment they saw it transform into sheer magic.

“We’ve been coming probably the past six years,” Whitney Ross said. “We were fortunate to learn about it, and we thought it was fantastic from the moment we first came. The ice is so beautiful, and they are so talented.”

They said they initially heard about the event because Bob Winkler, who usually has a snowmobile exhibit at the event but didn’t this year, has a sister-in-law who lives in Eaton and shared about the event.

They’ve been fans ever since and said the train show, Cleo Fisher Museum and even the simple beauty of the countryside surrounding Loudonville make the trip worth it.

“I highly recommend that if people have been here, they do so because it’s awesome,” Mike Ross said.

Ice sculpting somehow transforms frozen water into breathtaking works. With little more than blocks of clear ice and a set of specialized tools, artists carve delicate curves, sharp angles and intricate details that seem almost impossible to achieve in such a fragile state.

The transparency of ice gives each sculpture a luminous quality, allowing light to pass through and reflect in shimmering patterns.

Over the years the various sculptors/artists from Elegant Ice have spoken about the creativity and vision of the process — a process that takes careful planning, with each cut made with care and purpose to avoid cracks or weak points.

That it is done with something as dangerous as chainsaws and chisels to shape and refine the details makes this art even more amazing.

On this day, with temperatures soaring into the high 40s, the artists needed to work quickly. Even under that pressure, where every movement mattered and a single mistake could have meant starting over, the process was flawless, much to the delight of the crowds that gathered.

All of this for a piece of art that was destined to melt into oblivion mere hours after it was created, which was why so many families, especially with young children, stopped by the dozens of sculptures downtown and posed for photos.

One passing elderly man, looking at an eagle, said because the ice is destined to melt, perhaps that makes it even more beautiful, a reminder that beauty does not have to last forever. The knowledge a sculpture will soon disappear often makes the moment of viewing more powerful, encouraging people to slow down and truly appreciate what is before them.

Ultimately, the art of ice sculpting that thrilled the crowds who braved the rain blended both strength and fragility together, woven in discipline and creativity.

Ice art is like a comet, arriving out of nowhere, soaring to incredible heights of glory and gone far too soon. For patrons at the Mohican Winterfest, capturing a glimpse of it was enough to create some special memories.