Snow Statue Building Begins

Classes resume today on the campus of Michigan Tech and students are wasting no time getting back to work.

Many came back early to begin their involvement with a 95 year old MTU tradition where the streets of Houghton are transformed into a winter wonderland.

Winter Carnival is less than a month away and construction has already begun at several sites across town.

“These are these giant statues that can be anywhere from 4 feet tall all the way up to 30 feet tall, and these are carved by students throughout the month leading up to carnival. This year’s theme is Myths and Tales of the Past in our Frigid Forecast,” said Blue Key Honor Society President Sarah Jo Martens, who describes some of the building criteria.

Martens said, “Students are able to use only hand tools. There’s no mechanical tools that they can use whatsoever other than electric irons. They start filling plywood boxes with the snow and they go in with chisels, hatchets, saws and start carving out the forms with the irons to get a nice, smooth glossy surface.”

Statues are built in two different categories. Entries in the month long category began building a few days ago, where teams will be working on their magnificent sculptures until the Carnival open.

Other statues are built during the prequel event known as all-nighter where students start their ice build at 4:00pm and have 16 hours to finish it, leading to the carnival open at 8:00 am on Thursday February 8th.

Martens said, “Other events going on with Winter Carnival: we have our Queen’s coronation,a two game hockey series—this year up against Bemidji State, USG is hosting a event this year to break a world record for the most snowmen built in one hour.”

A full list of events can be found on line.

“So we have everything on an up to date basis on our website which is www.mtu.edu/carnival. Also we have our up to date listing of all the events, locations, and times for everything on that website,” Martens said.