The City of St Charles is hosting its annual “Fete de Glace” this Jan. 27 on North Main St. from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
This festival has been taking place for 25 years, doubling as an ice carving competition.
Carving teams and individual carvers take up 2 blocks of historic St. Charles for the day. The carvers use tools like chainsaws, chisels, grinders, knives, hot irons, and cold spray to turn the ice into a sparkling work of art before your eyes. There will be firepits and heaters to gather around and watch the ice melt and shift into something new.
The day will start at 9:30 a.m. with the tag team ice carving round. Sculptures will be made from 5 blocks of ice, one block is supposed to be roughly 260 lbs. This round will end at 12:30 p.m.; people will be asked to vote on their favorite sparkling sculpture afterwards. Then onlookers can watch a second round of ice carving done with a single block from 1 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. Once again, onlookers will be asked to vote for their favorite of the frigid sculptures.
If you are curious about what the competition looks like, 2023’s winning sculpture was a golden green dragon carved by Noami Hamamura, otherwise referred to as Hama Sam. Hama Sam’s daughter, Heidi Hamamura, told the story of the sculpture. Her father had asked her young son what he wanted to see carved in ice the morning of the competition. The young boy told his grandfather he wanted to see his golden green dragon made of ice. The boy even drew out the dragon for his grandfather.
Hama Sam was about 70 years old at the time and has been saying it’s his last year carving for many years now, but always comes back to the craft. He started off the morning with 5 blocks of ice, each weighing about 350 lbs. and a drawing of his grandson’s golden green dragon in his pocket. He also competed in the solo round last year and carved a phoenix. His daughter marveled at not only the skill to carve the shape but to plan out the design and delegate to his team. She posted on Facebook that it was a feat of strength and creativity on her father’s part, and she was very proud.
Hama Sam will be competing this year, despite his claims that last year was his final year. He plans on competing in the tag team and the single block rounds. His tag team piece will be a hydra dragon for his grandson. His single block will be a dragon in honor of 2024, the year of the dragon.
Beth Norviel, the Special Events and Communications coordinator for the City of St. Charles, says that this year they are adding a chili and beer competition alongside the festival. The competition is called “Bowls and Brews” and will be at the same time as the “Fete de Glace.”
Norviel says there will be chili and beer vendors with free samples that people will be encouraged to try while watching the sculpting and to vote on their favorites. Vendors that have signed up to be there are the Bike Stop Café, Novellus, Burger Underground, Salt n Smoke, Mr. Papa’s 2 Go and Shortleaf Brewing.
This event is to bring people together and give them something to do during the cold, winter months as well as highlighting the beautiful art form of ice sculpting. Beth Norviel felt it very important everyone knows that this is a family event. The beer, chili, and activities for the whole family to participate in will be of no charge to the public.
If you find yourself with nothing to do on Jan. 27, make sure to go visit Hama Sam and the other ice sculptors and grab some chili while you watch.
