Ice festival draws thousand to Cripple Creek

One of the largest winter events in Southern Colorado returned to Cripple Creek.

The eighth annual Cripple Creek Ice Festival lined Bennett Avenue with ice sculptures, food vendors and music.

Sculptors had their hands full as they worked to maintain the ice in warmer weather.

“Basically, the sun likes to tear apart our ice from the inside out,” sculptor Laurie Petty said. “The problem with that is you can actually touch the ice and it’ll all fall apart.”

Petty helped design and sculpt an ice castle maze. She said sculptors need to know how to adapt to warm temperatures.

“Originally, both mazes were going to be the same size, but one came in a little bit more,” she said. “That gave us the opportunity to be able to connect the two of them and have a long hallway.”

Other ice sculptors had to work around the clock to make sure their ice stayed intact.

“A lot of the pieces are frozen together and when it’s warm it just doesn’t want to freeze together,” Jeremiah Goben said. “You have to wake up early or do it late at night to make it work.”

The festival draws thousands of visitors to Cripple Creek every year.

“It’s amazing seeing all the detail of the ice sculptures and see all the work that goes into it,” Craig Swan said. He’s visiting the festival with his wife and daughter. “We really enjoy watching them carve through the ice.It’s just a good time.”

The Cripple Creek Ice Festival is a two-weekend event. Ice sculptors will create new pieces of art when the event is held again Feb. 21 and Feb. 22.