Five Ice and Snow Festivals
1. Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival
This major festival is held in Harbin, Heilongjiang, China. It begins in January and lasts all month long. Ice sculptures create giant structures from huge blocks of ice taken from the Songhua River. The creations are decorated with multi-colored lights.
2. Sapporo Snow Festival
This festival is held in Sapporo, Japan. The event runs for about a week in the month of February. This festival includes snow sculptures, music, ski shows, and lots of food!
To get the full snow festival experience, check out this video.
3. Kiruna Snow Festival
This snow festival is held in the northern most part of Sweden. It is held near the last week of January. Teams of sculptures are given blocks of snow to carve in any way they would like. In addition to the snow sculptures, there are also concerts and snow games.
4. Quebec Winter Carnival
This French festival is held in Quebec City in Canada in February. There are all kinds of events including snow carving, snow sled slides, canoe races, skiing, and outdoor shows.
5. Breckenridge International Ice Sculpture Championships
Held in Breckenridge, Colorado, USA, this competition is conducted at the end of January, but the sculptures are on display through February. Sculptors from around the world have five days to complete their artwork before the judging begins!