What goes better with a winter carnival than ice? Ice and winter go together like peanut butter and jelly, wine and cheese, and milk and cookies. So ice sculptures at a winter carnival are a no brainer!
Full Spectrum Ice kicked off the 2023 new year by contributing to the 16th annual Loop Ice Carnival in St. Louis, MO!
40 ice sculptures, ice cornhole, ice photo frames, oh my! And that’s not even the half of it!
We provided a truckload (literally!) of ice displays for this famed winter carnival in St Louis.
How did we pull off this incredible ice feat? Keep reading to find out!
Loop Ice Carnival
The Loop Ice Carnival is an outdoor winter carnival that aims to promote the small, local businesses that comprise the University City Loop all while delivering the public a fun, family-friendly experience.
The entire street is closed off for the winter carnival, allowing guests to roam freely from the stilt walking character meet and greets to the face painting station to the live ice demo area. This also enables guests to wander from business to business.
We were honored to support the St. Louis community and this fantastic winter carnival by creating 40+ ice sculptures for the event! After producing the custom creations at our home base in Austin, TX, our team loaded up our freezer truck with all the ice and made the 13.5 hour drive up to St. Louis.
Here’s a preview of what we provided for this winter carnival!
Branded Ice Sculptures
Custom branded ice sculptures are our bread and butter! We specialize in personalizing ice displays with your logo and any other desired graphics or text.
For the Loop Ice Carnival, we set out to create a custom ice sculpture for each individual business in the University City Loop. This resulted in 30 personalized sculptures, from a poke bowl ice carving for PokeDoke to a life-like Nike sneaker for the retail store, Sneaker Perfection to an adorable Pikachu for the Japanese restaurant, Blue Ocean.
Not to mention a branded food truck sculpture for Seoul Taco, a sculpture of RedLion Custom’s mascot, and 2 stylized lion sculptures fit for royalty for the Three Kings Public House!
Each branded ice sculpture sat right outside of its corresponding business, creating a unique way to invite winter carnival guests to come inside and find out what each store had to offer!
The sculptures also presented creative photo opps for these winter carnival attendees which meant a creative marketing technique for the businesses!
Think about it: Are you more likely to remember a business just by strolling by it? Or are you more likely to retain its name and branding by viewing and taking a photo with a custom branded ice sculpture?
No matter what type of business you have or what your logo and branding consist of, we can translate it into ice!
Live Ice Carving Demonstration
Not only did we contribute to this winter carnival, but we also put ourselves smack dab in the middle of the fun with a live ice carving demo outside Fitz’s Root Beer!
There, our ice master and company owner, Sean Leahy, really put the ‘WOW’ in wow factor by hand crafting an ice sculpture of Elsa from Frozen!
This iconic ice queen came to life before everyone’s eyes! What started out as some stacked ice blocks transformed into Elsa in her signature magical pose thanks to Sean’s expert craftsmanship.
In creating this piece, he largely used a chainsaw to help create the overall shape of the sculpture. Then, he utilized hand tools, like chisels, to carve out the finer details and curves.
Now the real question is… Is Elsa really the one with ice powers, or are we?
To watch Sean in action and see what a live demo looks like, make sure to check out our television appearance!
Larger Than Life Showpieces
To mark the main winter carnival entrance points, we produced 4 larger than life showpiece ice sculptures! These took the form of a life-size Chuck Berry, a ferocious lion and lioness, and of course, Olaf, to go with our friend, Elsa!
We also created other St. Louis-themed ice sculptures to decorate the streets of this winter carnival. Home to the St. Louis Cardinals and the legendary Chuck Berry, we knew we had to pay tribute to these local icons in the sculptures.
Thus, our Fredbird, Cardinals, and St. Louis Blues mascot sculptures were born! Our Chuck Berry ice sculpture even had a face cutout, where guests could stick their own faces in for a fun photo opp!
Curb appeal + guest interaction = a win-win!
Custom Ice Cubes
If you never thought that you’d find real treasure within ice, you might want to think twice!
As part of the winter carnival fun, attendees could collect custom ice cubes with a gold coin frozen in each one. When they cracked open the ice cube, they would either find a real $1 coin or a chocolate coin!
For this coin cube giveaway, we froze $1,000 in real coins and 9,000 chocolate coins into ice cubes. Whether you ended up with the money or chocolate, we consider it a victory!
Here at Full Spectrum, we can freeze practically anything in ice! From floral arrangements to sneakers to tablets, the only limit to what we can freeze in ice is your imagination.
Ice Cornhole
Both Texans and Missourians alike will love this: We created ice cornhole boards for the winter carnival! These were exact replicas of traditional cornhole boards, just made of ice!
Guests delighted in playing this unique round of cornhole. When else do you get the chance to play this beloved game on ice?
Snow Ball at the Moonrise Hotel
We can’t forget about the Snow Ball at the esteemed Moonrise Hotel ! Renowned businessman, Joe Edwards, opened this St. Louis boutique hotel back in 2009 and it has been a prominent part of the Loop ever since! Joe also happens to be the founder of the Loop Ice Carnival and other distinguished businesses and organizations in the community. We were honored to work together for this year’s Snow Ball!
Preceding the Loop Ice Carnival, the Moonrise’s Snow Ball took place in the hotel’s rooftop event space called the Twilight Room. Featuring specialty cocktails, live music, and an unbeatable view of St. Louis, it was the perfect way to kick off the Loop Festival weekend!
We contributed a special ice luge in the shape of a crescent moon sitting on top of a cloud. Of course, we added the Moonrise’s logo to the piece as well! Both elegant and functional, the luge was a hit at the ball!
Massive thank you to Joe Edwards for inviting us to be a part of this beautiful night!
Winter Carnival Gallery
For even more photos from the Loop Ice Carnival, check out this article from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch!
The Ice Behind this Winter Carnival
Full Spectrum Ice Sculptures designs, produces and displays the highest quality custom ice sculptures for all types of events. Serving the Austin and San Antonio areas, our specialty is creating ice sculptures that are customizable, functional, and most of all, memorable.
From shot blocks to branded sculptures to craft cocktail ice, we can fulfill all your ice needs. Contact us today to see how we can bring your ice visions to reality!
Special Thanks to Our Loop Partners
A huge thank you to all of our partners and team for helping bring our winter carnival sculptures to life! Extra special thank you to our planning partners, Jessica Bueler, Ryan Griffore, Joe Edwards, and Derek Deaver! We look forward to growing together for Loop 2024!
Jessica Bueler, Executive Director, University City Loop
Ryan Griffore, Webmaster, University City Loop
Joe Edwards, Owner, Moonrise Hotel, Blueberry Hill, Peacock Loop Diner
Derek Deaver, Owner, Three Kings Public House
Which Wich Superior Sandwiches