Fire And Ice In The Air

It’s winter, oh boy is it winter! Christmas has passed, New Year’s came and went and to top if off we’ve gotten about 36 inches of snow this year. But that doesn’t mean we stay inside until the snow melts. No, our biggest winter event, our real crowd pleaser is our annual Fire & Ice Festival.
A celebration with lots of food, this is a good excuse to get our town together (and bring in the tourists!) There’s the snow and ice sculpting, ice skating (a first this year), a bonfire of Christmas trees, the Polar Bear Splash, and of course you can’t forget the fireworks show! This year we had a humorous ice sculpting artist who carved the “Flying Cow” and had it displayed at the Safeway intersection. Who can forget the day we learned about the cow that thought it was an eagle at Rocky Point? The sculptures lasted a good two or more weeks without any vandalism. It was a beautiful display.
by Erin McAlvey

Brilliant Eagle Sculpture outside Sunburst. and An Eskimo sculpture stands guard outside the old Green’s Department store.(Below)

Ice Ice Baby!!!

We’ve had more snow this year than we’ve had in a long time. Cars were covered with snow to the extent where you couldn’t get into them. Roads have been closed off because of snow drifts. Snoqualmie and Stevens passes have both been closed on several occasions due to avalanche control and snow storms. Also, it’s been getting warmer so snow melts down and then freezes over, making the roads around town dangerous. Now that we are transitioning from February to March, much of our snow has disappeared and temperatures are reaching up to the 40’s. Driving to school recently, I noticed how much snow has melted. McNeil Canyon went from upwards of two feet of snow to mere inches covering the ground in select places. We’re not done with winter yet, but you can feel spring is definitely in the air.
by: Jera Martin