In the wake of Michigan Tech’s first snow day called in six years, a long hard look at the conditions that we face in our everyday lives is worth taking. Winter Carnival statue building has been peppered with delays and cancellations as temperatures with windchill have been routinely below -10 degrees. Students and organizations are not permitted to work on their snow sculptures in -18-degree weather.
While we are in no danger of Winter Carnival being canceled, it’s important to take a few minutes to appreciate all of the hard work that goes into this celebration.
Month-long sculptures this year are towering above the rest as Winter Carnival’s theme for this year, “Years of Innovation STEM from this Snowy Situation” inspires organizations and students to press the limits of what snow is capable of.
The community is also gearing up to support the community of builders who are working through the night. Building for month-long sculptures began on Jan. 11 and since then, students on campus late at night have been able to hear the music blasting from cold-hardy speakers as these committed people worked through snowy, cold conditions to put a base on their statues.
While the statues are still far from taking shape, the people at The Lode have also been gearing up for the celebration. Every year, the Lode puts out a collectible book of memories, sort of like a Winter Carnival yearbook, that allows people downstate or who couldn’t get out for the Winter Carnival all-nighter to see the winning snow sculptures, the stage revue performances and the runner-ups.
The Lode has dedicated photographers and writers who attend backstage performances before they even go on, and spend all night taking photos of the nearly complete statues so that we can put together a comprehensive pictorial that is available the first day of the carnival, holding pictures from events that hadn’t happened yet like they were uploaded by magic.
The Lode will be publishing the Winter Carnival Pictorial on Feb. 8 and it will be available for purchase that Friday for only $5.
In addition to the all-night snow statue building competition on Feb. 6, the ROTC will be having their all-nighter pancakes available for purchase from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m., the MUB will be featuring karaoke from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. and there will be a freestyle snowmobile show in Parking Lot 9 at 8 p.m. with another following at 10 p.m. on Feb. 6.
At 9:30 a.m. on Feb. 7, statue judging will begin. From 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. the Beard Competition will take place in Fisher 135 and the Winter Carnival Stage Revue will be putting on their shows from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
On Feb. 8, there will be horse-drawn sleigh rides available from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. and dog sledding rides from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. St. Albert the Great will be having their ice mass and will feed the congregation chili afterward at 5:30 p.m.
Feb. 9 will also feature an ice mass at 10 a.m., but without the chili afterward, and horse-drawn sleigh rides will once again be available from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. Dog sledding rides will be available on this day as well, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Feb. 9 is also the day that the men’s hockey team will be playing Minnesota State in the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena from 5:07 p.m. to 8:07 p.m. Following this, there will be a torchlight parade and fireworks from the Mont Ripley Ski Area at 8:45 p.m. and finally the SnoBall in the Rozsa from 9 p.m. to 12 a.m.
We hope to see you there and keep an eye out for this year’s Winter Pictorial so you don’t miss any of this year’s events! The Winter Pictorial will be for sale at many of events listed here at booths, particularly at the SnoBall and the hockey games so be sure to look for us!
With no shortage of cold temperatures, be sure to prepare for the cold accordingly and maybe even bring a little extra cash to buy some hot pancakes from the ROTC.
