Breckenridge Associates
Real Estate

The final gun sounded at 10 a.m. on the 22nd annual International Sculpture Competition, today. The intensity of the past four days: people and tools of all stripes working on the snow, crawling all over 10-foot x 10-foot blocks has transformed into mobs of people streaming by the 15 finished sculptures that sit cordoned over like works in a museum. Last night many teams working through the night to finish. Team Breckenridge hosted by Breckenridge Associates Real Estate had finished the structure of the carosel, and was working on detailing the horses and adding jewels to the crown. "We only stayed out until two," said Tom Day, a Breck. Associates realtor working on the sculpture. Tom was not being facetious. He remembers many years when the team worked all night. One team working late last night was not in the official competitors. They were finishing the sculpture for one of the sponsors, Cadillac, and making it a piece that will be climbed. These guys are some of Tom...

Lined up at the Riverwalk Center like marble outside the quarry at Carrara, the 15 blocks of snow stand ready for the beginning of the 22nd Annual International Snow Sculpture Competition, today. About 12 feet tall, 10 feet long and wide, the blocks give sculptors the opportunity to make something big, with a lot less effort than carving marble. Fifteen teams have arrived to make sculpture. This morning, each team selected a block and attempted to claim it in the shotgun start at 11 a.m. Although the snow looks very similar at this point, like stone, each block has different qualities depending on the composition and the temperature of the layers as it was being formed. Breckenridge uses only man-made snow, so there are very few impurities. But ice chunks and badly compacted areas can occur. And like stone, some are on the inside and can’t be seen until a sculptor gets to them. So, each team makes its best guess from the exposed surface. A stone carver doesn’t have to consider e...