11th Annual Meltdown Ice Festival in Richmond kicks off today. Here's all the fun you can have.

RICHMOND, Ind. — If you grew up in the '90s or early 2000s, chances are you've heard "Ice Ice Baby" by Vanilla Ice at least at some point.

While not the event's official theme song, Ice (the solid state of water, not the singer), will be taking center stage in Richmond this weekend as the 11th Annual Richmond Meltdown Winter Ice Festival takes place.

More than 20,000 pounds of ice will be transformed from their normal state into beautiful creations by professional ice carvers and artists for the public to enjoy.

There is an online map this year featuring all of the different participating businesses and where you can find the ice sculptures that are being worked on.

Complete information for the festival can be found at richmondmeltdown.com or on Facebook at Richmond Meltdown.

Events have been going earlier this week, with Chili for Charity and the opportunity to meet an ice carver on Wednesday, as well as a live ice carving and a frozen costume contest on Thursday.

But that was only a little bit of what the festival has to offer, as most of the activities begin Friday and continue into Saturday.

The festival will culminate with 7:30 p.m. Saturday's annual Meltdown Throwdown in Jack Elstro Plaza, where Team Fire and Team Ice will battle against each other to determine which side has the best ice sculptures as voted on by the audience, with fireworks to follow.

Melty the Moose will be back this year as the festival's official mascot, as he has been making his rounds around the city promoting the event.

More: Carvers put on a show at 2019 Meltdown Winter Ice Festival

More: PHOTOS: Meltdown Winter Ice Festival 2020

More: Meltdown Winter Ice Festival returns for its 9th year

Other activities going on this year are as follows:

∎ For $10 a person, families and students can head to Suzie's Pizza at 820 E Main St. from 5:30 to 8 p.m. for a Meltdown Pizza Party followed by a round of all of your favorite arcade games at Retro Rush Arcade located at 100 N 9th St. All community members are welcome to come as well.

∎ From 5:30 to 10 p.m. Friday and from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, the Family Fun Zone will be open to the public at Jack Elstro Plaza, where visitors can play games made out of ice and take pictures with sculptures. While not confirmed for this year, last year's fun zone included Skee-Ball, an ice slide and a ping-pong table to name a few.

∎ While all the fun is being had at the arcade and fun zone, others can hang around the plaza to watch more live ice carvings while enjoying a dinner from one of the food trucks on site from 4 to 10 p.m. Food trucks expected to be there include The Ginger Gringo, Fatheadz Food Truck, Ullery's Ice Cream and Big Pappa's Pork Pit. On Saturday, the food trucks will be available from noon to 10 p.m.

∎ While all the fun is being had at the arcade and fun zone, others can hang around the plaza to watch more live ice carvings while enjoying a delicious dinner from one of the food trucks on site from 4 to 10 p.m. Food trucks expected to be there include The Ginger Gringo, Fatheadz Food Truck, Ullery's Ice Cream and Big Pappa's Pork Pit. On Saturday, the food trucks will be available from noon to 10 p.m.

∎ This Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon at the Starr Gennett Building, the Richmond Farmers Market will be open as vendors will be selling a variety of fruits, vegetables, plants, baked goods and other products provided by the local farming and gardening communities. There will also be a free Meltdown-themed coloring contest for children ages 3 to 17, where the public will vote on the best work. All works will be posted on the market's Facebook and Instagram pages afterwards.

∎ From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Hayes Arboretum will be handing out free hot chocolate in the Nature Center, where the first 50 people to arrive will receive a reusable cup donated by the Richmond Starbucks.

∎ Free and open to all ages from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, the Joseph Moore Museum on Earlham College's campus will host "Home of the Ice Age Giants" with Ice Age activity stations, where attendees can learn about ice science and see skeletons from animals of the Ice Age.

∎ Located in front of the Richmond Neighborhood Restoration building at 724 E Main St., the Meltdown Pop-In Market will be going on from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday. Shoppers may purchase items from local craft vendors. Free 2024 Meltdown Winter Ice Festival merchandise will be handed out as well.

∎ Listen up, ice cream lovers: Ullery's Ice Cream will host its annual ice cream eating contest at 4 p.m. Saturday, where teams of local public employees will face off against each other while trying to avoid a brain freeze. While festivalgoers cannot join as teams have already been selected, there will be special Meltdown flavors available to try all day.

∎ Available now and while supplies last, Roscoe's Coffee Bar and Tap Room will be open this weekend with specialty drinks created out of inspiration for the festival. Head over to 416 N. 10th St. to try their Meltdown Frappuccino (blue raspberry) or the Team Ice (blue matcha latte) or Team Fire (spiced hot chocolate) drinks.

Meeting the Ice Carvers

Andrew Thistlethwaite

From San Antonio, Texas, Thistlethwaite is no stranger to coming where it's a little bit colder, as he discovered his passion for ice sculpting in 1996 while studying at the University of Notre Dame to be a culinary apprentice.

He is the owner of Signature Ice Sculptures, LLC, in San Antonio and has traveled across the United States with his chainsaw to winter festivals, parties and demonstrations. He is an Ivy Tech instructor in ice carving and founded the Hunter Ice Festival in Niles, Mich.

His accolades include NICA Professional Division National Championships in 2007 and 2008 and was third at the 2016 World Championships in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Aaric Kendall

From Argenta, Illinois, Kendall had his first ice carving experience in high school while working part time in the kitchen of a private dining club. While working, he was given a chance to carve a swan out of ice at a Springfield charity event.

From there, he attended the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., where he became president of the school’s ice carving club.

He has won the U.S. Ice Carving Nationals and subsequently competed in ice carving events held in conjunction with the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, in 2006 and Vancouver, British Columbia, in 2010, where he earned the bronze and gold medals respectively. He was also second at the World Ice Art Championships in 2015.

Today, Kendall owns Double A Carving Company, a full-service ice carving company that he started. His shop, which includes a 13-by-10-foot freezer where he carves, is on the property of his parents’ home, where he grew up.

Dean DeMaris

Demaris carved his first block of ice in the summer of 1988 in garde manger class at El Centro community college in Dallas, Texas. Just a couple months later in October, he was working full time at Bifulcos Vanishing Sculptures, where he took sales calls, picked up and maintained equipment and did a bit of sculpting as well of course.

DeMaris went back to school and earned his art degree in 1992, and in 1998, he started Dallas Ice FX. He competed in some local competitions where he won some and was disqualified in others, but only began competing nationally in 2003. In 2003, 2004, 2007 and 2008, Demaris earned top 10 placements, including silver and bronze medals.

In 2007, he competed at the World Ice Art Championship in Fairbanks, Alaska with Team Fear No Ice.

Jeff Kaiser

From Youngstown, Ohio, Kaiser started his ice carving career when he was 19 at Mastro Ice in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He worked for Mastro Ice for more than 20 years as a contract sculptor, before he and his wife started Sub Zero Hand Crafted Ice Sculptures where they live now.

He was fifth for Team California at the World Ice Art Championships in 2011, but he has also won two people's choice awards, two third places, and first places in the multi-block and two-block categories at world competitions.

Kaiser has also been on the board for the National Ice Carving Association.

Danny Bloss II

From Niles, Michigan, Bloss got his start carving ice at the first Hunter Ice Festival that fellow carver Thistlethwaite created. Like Thislethwaite, Bloss attended the University of Notre Dame and took an ice carving class with the executive chef at the university's Morris Inn. He is currently a chef at Notre Dame.

When he's not serving spectacular creations on a dinner plate, Bloss' ice sculptures can be seen at Notre Dame or South Bend events. He competes at nearly all northern Indiana and southern Michigan festivals, winning multiple silver and bronze medals. In 2017, he won the NICA Professional Division National Championship.

He also works with his wife, Becky, at the Magical Ice Festival in St. Joseph, Michigan. One day he hopes to own an ice shop himself. During the summer, Bloss also does wood carvings and chalk art at festivals all over the United States.

Samantha (Sammy) Moore

A Hoosier native from Elkhart, Moore began carving in 2017 with the Michiana Ice Carvers Association and has competed at Ice Alaska. She is the chef for Goshen Health Hospital, and her hobbies outside of ice carving include hiking, camping and training jujitsu.

Evan Weaver is a news and sports reporter at The Palladium-Item. Contact him on X (@evan_weaver7) or email at eweaver@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: Richmond Meltdown Ice Festival starts Friday January 26