Opryland ICE: What it takes for a team of Chinese artisans to create the massive ice show
They chainsaw colored ice inside a room engineered to never rise higher than 9 degrees.
It is delicate and detailed work, making ice angels, reindeer and other holiday images.
And that is warmer conditions than they endure at home where winter temperatures often fall below zero.
They are the artisans from Harbin, China (and a few surrounding cities in the Heilongjiang province), who have made their yearly pilgrimage to Nashville to create the ICE! show at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center. Thirty-five people from one of the coldest regions in the world arrived Oct. 3 in Music City to build scenes from "The Polar Express."
The 40th annual ICE! show will begin Nov. 10 and run through Jan. 1, 2024. The show features ice slides and tunnels and a train like the one in the popular Christmas movie.
In recent years, the show has been created by teams of Chinese artists from a region known for its Harbin Ice and Snow Festival in which entire cities, complete with skyscraping palaces, are created out of ice. In Harbin, the ice cities are visited each year between December and March.
"In America, the sculptures are detailed, small and delicate," You Bin Hou, 68, who is the ICE! project manager said through an interpreter. "In China we have giant buildings. It takes two hours to walk through (in China), while in America, it takes 15 minutes."
The team of 33 builders and two chefs have been hanging out in Nashville. The joke among them is that they will work harder for beer.
This year's theme is from the Disney Christmas film, and will include nine scenes and 2 million pounds of ice, which comes in 6,000, 300-pound "blocks and will be shaped in 12,000 working hours. The colored ice (giant blocks of red, blue, green and yellow) comes from Adel, Georgia. And the clear ice (used for faces and details) comes from North Ontario, Canada. The artists use chainsaws, chisels, drills and bing cha (ice forks) to shape the ice. The building process takes 31 days.
The artists spray regular water to meld the ice together.
Artist Bai Wei Guo, 68, said he got his start making ice zodiac animals in 1998.
"You have to endure the cold," he said. "You need to like the ice."
Bai designed the grand nativity scene angel that will be one of the focal points of this year's show.
"It makes me very happy that people enjoy the nativity scene," Bai said. "It gives me a feeling of accomplishment."
The Chinese crew has been spending their off hours in Nashville, where they love shopping at the Opry Mills Mall.
Five Gaylord Resort sites will be hosting ICE! shows this year: Tennessee, Maryland, Florida, Texas and Colorado.
If you go
When: Event runs from Nov. 10 through Jan. 1
Price: Ticket prices and packages vary. Regular ticket price: Adults $31.99, Children $22.99
Times: Daily schedule varies. The house typically run:
Monday to Thursday, noon to 8 p.m.
Friday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Sunday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Average time of tour: 20 to 40 minutes (but there is no time limit). Blue parkas provided.
For information: ChristmasAtGaylordOpryland.com
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Christmas at Opryland: What it takes to create the massive ice show
