Ice sculptures taking shape in downtown Winnipeg

Ice carvers are hard at work in Downtown Winnipeg as their creations start to take form from massive blocks of ice.

It's all part of Downtown Winnipeg BIZ's initiative Winter Wanderland, encouraging Winnipeggers to celebrate winter downtown.

The blocks of ice, weighing over 1,000 pounds, were harvested from the Red River in late January and moved to the sculpting locations throughout downtown.

"Bringing big heavy blocks of ice and depositing them into various locations is definitely a challenge," said sculptor Chris Pancoe, who was working on his ice sculpture on Wednesday.

"It will be worth it. Now I guess you could call this the easy part where we just kind of hunker down and carve and do what we like to do."

Ice carver Chris Pancoe works on an ice sculpture in downtown Winnipeg on Feb 8, 2023, as a part of Downtown Winnipeg BIZ's Winter Wanderland. (Source: Jamie Dowsett/CTV News Winnipeg)

The sculptures have been placed at True North Square, Manitoba Hydro Plaza, Millennium Library Park, Holy Trinity Church and along Graham Avenue.

The sculptors include world-class ice carvers from around the globe, including Malaysia and Mexico.

Some of the larger sculptures are made up of multiple heavy blocks stacked on top of each other. Sculptor Victor Dagatan, who was working on his frozen creation of a jazz musician, said that is the hardest part.

"Once you got this altogether, the fun part is going – carving is the fun part," he said.

Ice carver Victor Dagatan works on an ice sculpture in downtown Winnipeg on Feb 8, 2023, as a part of Downtown Winnipeg BIZ's Winter Wanderland. (Source: Jamie Dowsett/CTV News Winnipeg)

Once completed, Winnipeggers will be able to take them all in with Kendrick’s Outdoor Adventures as they will offer free fat bike tours of Downtown Winnipeg.

Downtown Winnipeg BIZ says along with the sculptures, this year's Winter Wanderland will include a free kickoff party on Saturday at 6 p.m., and other programing in the days following.

More information about this all the different events can be found online.