The 2023 Medina Ice Festival will be February 17-20.
This post documents my experience on February 19, 2011.
In the state of Ohio, February is a month when you can usually expect the weather to remain…well…cold. From February 1 through February 28 (even the 29th when it rolls around), there should be icicles hanging off the gutter and snow-covered yards traced with human and animal footprints galore.
It seems the perfect month for an ice festival!
Of course, also in the state of Ohio, there are weather-related surprises, like a week-long spell of 50+ temperatures to knock off those icicles, melt all the snow from your lawns and threaten the very festival you were looking forward to.
I mean…
…who wants to see a lot of this?
As coworkers and friends praised the warm weather, I found myself nervous. What would happen to those beautiful sculptures when they were set up to be viewed? Would they collapse into a pile of slush? Would the Ice Festival be canceled?
Fortunately, there was no word of cancellation as the temperatures started to fall again. By the time I arrived in downtown Medina, it was only a few degrees above freezing and there were many people about…
…in and around the downtown square.
In the park area…
…sculptors were busy with tools of all types…
…as festival goers observed through their eyes or through a lens.
And there was definitely a reason for to bring a camera!
To beat the cold…
…vendors sold hot chocolate and kettle corn.
But there were other ways to keep warm, which made this festival a little nicer than other winter festivals.
You see…
…Medina turned its downtown into a gallery…
…allowing downtown shops to take advantage of the passing traffic.
At the ice piggy bank, for example…
…the PNC Bank had fireplaces and hot chocolate…
…not to mention some games (I won a chip bag clip).
Most shops didn’t do this many activities, but there were definitely “extras” noticed like the harp player at the Cool Beans Cafe or a special “Ice Festival Sale” at a gallery or gift shop.
Overall, the ice sculptures became a lure for people to discover (or rediscover) Medina and I even found myself texting my fiance’, “We need to spend an afternoon here sometime.”
It’s just a cute town.
And there were plenty of ice sculptures to appreciate…
…whether in the form of jewelry…
…local stores…
…various cool designs…
…or critters.
There were a lot of critters.