Winter Festival set for Feb. 3-6 this year

The 2005 Voyageur Winter Festival will take place in Ely this weekend, starting with a “Frozen Film Festival” and wrapping up with a “Skandilous Dance Performance” Sunday night.Inbetween will be the Festival’s signature attraction, the international snow carving symposium at White-side Park.“The Festival was shortened to three full days instead of two weekends but we have a lot going on,” said event organizer Muffin Nelson. “It’s a fun family event in one big weekend.”The Voyageur Winter Festival has taken many forms over the years and this year organizers are recognizing two people who helped get it all started.“Bill and Gloria Miller are the ones credited with founding the festival which as I understand it grew out of the cross-country ski race,” said Nelson. “Bill and Gloria brought together the idea of a weekend festival and put several elements together.”The Millers are serving as the Grand Marshalls for the event, including the opening ceremony set for Friday night at Washington Auditorium starting at 7 p.m.“Marshall emeritus” Joe Seliga will pass the ceremonial grand marshall paddle to the Millers. Lolita Schnitzius will emcee the opening ceremony that includes a community march, musical and dance performances and a storytelling session by Kevin Strauss.Before the opening ceremony, festival goers can attend the Kizer Memorial Fund annual spaghetti dinner at the Community Center starting at 5 p.m.The festival’s headquarters will be at the Minglewood Cafe this year, just a block and a half west of the snow sculptures in the park. Whiteside will be a busy place starting Friday as 20 amateur and 44 professional snow carvers tackle blocks of snow with everything from shovels to knives. This year there will also be a snow wall sculpture sponsored by Ely Greenstone Public Arts.“This is for snow sculpture beginners who each will be assigned a space on the wall to carve in relief using home tools,” said committee member Anne Swenson. For more information on the snow wall, contact Judy Fredrickson at 365-4020 or Swenson at 365-3141. “Chill Out” is the theme of this year’s festival and a button designed by April Strom is available for $5. Pins are being sold at Minglewood, and the following locations: Ely Chamber of Commerce; Coldwell Banker 1st Ely Realty; Grand Ely Lodge; Piragis Northwoods; Steger Mukluks; WELY Radio and Wintergreen Design.Other events at Whiteside Park include a “Picnic at the Park” in the pavillion on Saturday, from 10 a.m. to noon sponsored by Ely Baptist Youth.There will also be an “End of the Road Rendezvous” with historic reenactments of the fur trade era throughout the weekend in the park.A “Polar Putt” will be held on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. At Vermilion Community College, the “Frozen Film Festival” starts at 6 p.m. on Thursday and Friday and at 1 p.m. on Saturday. “It starts out with Fargo and White Fang on Thursday, Friday is Grumpy Old Men and Call of the Wild and Saturday is Dumb and Dumber and Doctor Zhivago. They’re all chill out kind of films,” said Nelson.Sunday night at VCC Skandilous, a Twin Cities-based Sandinavian dance troupe will perform to authentic music. The dance performance starts at 3 p.m. and costs $8 or $5 with a Voyageur Winter Fest pin.Art displays that don’t involve real snow are also part of the event, including a display at Kess Gallery, a display of elementary student art at the Community Center and an art walk.The ArtWalk will be located in the windows of businesses all over town and will feature over 90 artists.“This is the biggest ArtWalk Ely has had,” said Nelson. The headquarters for the ArtWalk is at Piragis Northwoods Company.There is also a scavenger hunt at Grand Ely Lodge starting at 10 a.m. on Saturday with prizes given out at a chili feed there.Saturday night is the “Snow Ball” that features singer Renee Austin who’s performance was curtailed at the Blues Festival this summer due to a power outage. The Snow Ball also features Paul Mayasich and the Bender Heads. Tickets for the Community Center event are $15 and are available in advance at Radio Shack. Also on Saturday are events at the Community Center from 10-4 p.m.If that isn’t enough, there is also family open skating at the Ely Arena from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday night, free skiing and sliding at the Ely Golf Course with coffee and cocoa available at the Clubhouse. For more information see www.voyageurwinterfestival.com.