Minnesota winter (image by indahs)

Minnesota state (USA) is famous for its cold and long winter, thus, a winter festival event is something you can expect to happen there. Saint Paul, its capital city, hold an annual winter carnival for two weeks by the end of January to early February this year. To my surprise, this winter carnival has been ongoing since year 1886! It considered as one of oldest carnivals in the USA. One of the events in the annual winter carnival was Minnesota’s snow sculpting competition. It was a state level competition and the snow sculpting team who won the race would represent the state at the U.S. National Snow Sculpting Competition.

The winners

The winners

The winners

The competition was organized every year whenever there was enough snow. I had thought the state would never have been lacking snow, well, I was wrong. Some years back, they had to cancel the competition due to lack of snow. Last week Saint Paul has enough snow, but the temperature was warm for the Minnesotan winter in January. It was zero to 2 degree Celcius (32-35 degree Fahrenheit) and the melting few snow sculptures were demolished for safety reason. I visited Saint Paul on the third day after the competition was over and the winners were announced. Unfortunately only the medium size snow sculptures stayed but it was still fun to see the snow sculptures especially when they were lighted up at night.

Minnesota State Snow Sculpting

Minnesota State Snow Sculpting

Minnesota State Snow Sculpting

Minnesota State Snow Sculpting

Salute to the snow sculpture artists and congratulations to the winners. I can not even make a proper snowman, thus, I am sure I won’t be able to make such creative sculptures from snow and even so in the cold weather!

The Saint Paul Winter Carnival is still continued this week with various events and it will end on Sunday, February 7th. More information about the events of the Carnival, please visit: https://www.wintercarnival.com/