Ice sculptors descend on Niles for this weekend's Hunter Ice Festival
Dean DeMarais, from Dallas, Texas, works on an ice sculpture Wednesday in advance of the Hunter Ice Festival that officially kicks off at 5 p.m. Jan. 14 and runs through Jan. 16 in downtown Niles.
The annual festival pays tribute to the great history of the Hunter Brothers Ice and Ice Cream Co., which sold ice cream at the turn of the century and also cut ice blocks out of Barron Lake for shipment throughout the area.
The weekend festivities include a timed sculpting competition held at the Riverfront Amphitheater and sanctioned by the National Ice Carving Association (NICA), a special historical Hunter Brothers History Exhibit at the Niles District Library, a reproduction of the famous Hunter Ice Cream and a Kids Art Activities Warming Station with awards, face painting, crafts, balloon animals and more.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Bend-area's Hunter Ice Festival runs Jan. 14-16 in Niles
