Winter is a time ripe with snow, ice, and cold temperatures. The City of La Porte’s Winterfest has arrived with all of that. However, contrary to a lot of things associated with the season, La Porte is bringing people to the outdoors. The three-day event kicked off on Friday, January 26 with ice carvers sculpting statues in Plaza 618. The ice sculpting event was the first in a weekend filled with fun events. It was also one of several free events at Winterfest.
“With winter everybody's stuck inside. We don't want anybody to get the winter blues,” said Tabitha Aguilar, administrative assistant at the City of La Porte Parks and Recreation Department. “This gets people back out into the parks around the city, and we want it to be free as much as possible for the community.”
Thanks to sponsors like City's Pure Ice and NIPSCO, the City of La Porte is able to have free events like Friday’s ice sculpting and Saturday’s Jiu Jitsu for kids. Friday’s ice sculpting provided family time to spend time together while admiring the craftsmanship right in downtown La Porte.
“I'm with my grandson and we usually come to see the finished products,” said Jerry Blastick. “This year we decided we wanted to see them actually do some serious carving, so we came out earlier. We've been doing this since he was really little and I've been doing this for as long as I can remember.”
The ice carving featured local craftsmen such as La Porte resident Alfredo Arroyo and South Bend resident Howard Busfield. Arroyo and Busfield have been ice sculpting for 60 years and 19 years respectively.
“It's a good fit for me because I like mechanical stuff or tools,” said Busfield. “I also always liked art. I took a lot of art and building trade classes back in school a long time ago. This worked out for me because I'm able to use tools to do art, and that's the biggest thing about me.”
From mushrooms to owls to harps, there were all types of sculptures for attendees to witness being sculpted. For resident Jenny Mondt, it is not every day that ice sculptures are being sculpted just a few blocks from where she lives.
“It’s something interesting to see,” said Mondt. “We don't see sculptures every day. This is something easy to do with family. We're always looking for fun things to do like this.”
A special thing about Winterfest is that it highlights many different parts of La Porte. The events of the weekend take place all over the city with everywhere being highlighted from Lions Field to Cummings Lodge.
“It's easily highlighted,” said Aguilar. “We can go anywhere in La Porte and there's going to be something beautiful to highlight. We can highlight the plaza and La Stitch, we can also see the different parks such as Fox Park, Kesling Park, and Stone Lake. It's nice to have all of those areas.”
With two more days filled with fun events, the fun has just started. On Saturday, there is a Snowball Softball tournament, basic sewing class, and a frozen bike ride. Lastly, on Sunday, there are two free events, a winter kids craft and horse-drawn wagon rides.
For more information about Winterfest, please visit laporteparkandrec.com/winterfest
To learn more about the City of La Porte, please also visit cityoflaporte.com/
