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HomeMy Public PortalAboutMcCall Winter Carnival 2002S� 2s fryx� / - - r2 Oo Z, Too much snow in McCall? It's possible, Winter Carnival organizers say By Tim Woodward The Idaho Statesman Even in McCall, home of Idaho's best-known winter carnival, there's such a thing as too much snow. "It's swirling and blowing everybody off their sculp- tures," Bonnie Bertram, own- er of the McCall Pancake House, said Monday. "Other than that, it's OK" As of Monday, it had been snowing steadily in McCall since Saturday. About a foot of fresh snow has left the town looking like a winter postcard. "I'd say we have 3 feet on the level, and the berms are G or 7 feet high," said Bertram, co -chairwoman of the McCall Winter Carnival's sculpture committee. "It's more snow than I can remember, and I've been here over 20 years. "There is such a thing as too much snow, and we're about at that point. But it's better than snowing and rain- ing, which we've had in the past. I think once this stops, we're going to be just fine." Heavy snow warnings are in force for McCall, with G inches falling Monday and up to 3 more expected today. Clearing is possible by the weekend, maybe in time for Friday's opening ceremonies. "I ordered the snow for early in the week, and we've got plenty of that, so I've got sunshine ordered for the weekend," Winter Carnival Director Rob Lyons said. Concern that the heavy snowfall and the Olympic torch activities scheduled for Friday and Saturday in the Treasure Valley would keep crowds from making the trip to McCall are largely un- founded, Lyons said. "I don't anticipate it taking much of a toll. All the motels are pretty much full. I un- derstand if people want to stay and see the torch, but we want them up here, too. And bookings are looking good." The carnival's trademark ice sculptures are being built this week. Sculptors kept a close eye on the weather Monday as temperatures flirt- ed with rising above freezing. "It's just above 30 now, which we don't want," said Marilyn Krahn of Krahn's Home Furnishings, a peren- nial entrant in the ice -sculp- ture contest. "We like it more like 25 degrees and below." Temperatures so far have stayed low enough that no damage has been done. "All we've had to do is brush the snow off," Krahn said. "We've been doing a lot of that." cz e5fY)af-) asec I or Photos by Gerry Melendez / The Idaho Statesman Nancy Krahn of Krahn's Home Furnishing works on her ice sculpture titled "Cheeseburger in Paradise," one of the entries in this year's McCall Winter Carnival. Carnival art depicts American spirit N.Y. flag -raising scene is popular sculpture By Susan Whaley The Idaho Statesman Even Sharlie, Payette Lakes legendary monster, shows her patriotic side in the snow sculptures at this year's McCall Winter Car- nival. The slinky serpent rides a bobsled for the U.S. Olympic team in one and carries the Olympic torch in another. Eagles, flags, Liberty Bells and slices of Americana were everywhere as the states biggest mid-winteif 4 party began Friday. The • highlight of the 10-day ^pl ebration, which continues through Sunday, Feb. 3, is today's Mardi Gras Grand Parade. It begins at noon. One of the most popular snow carvings is a repro- duction of the famous flag - raising scene at the World Trade Center. "This is the best one I've seen so far," said Tyler Mo- gensen, 24, of Meridian, who can hardly remember a year that he hasn't been See Carnival on page 6 4 Carissa Hill, left, and her mother, Roxanne Hill, work on their ice sculpture outside R an c RiirgPr nen The sculpture honors the local Special Olympians. rY szcze€S /7-7 `" ) //z s-/a--vo Carnival From page 1 at Carnival. "The meaning behind it is what helps it stand out for sure." The celebration began Friday as a steady stream of cars filled the highway into town. Light snow fell off and on through day, adding to mounds piled around town from storms that have passed through the area all week. The weather was perfect for Sue Hansen of Boise and her friend Ginny Johnson of Diamond Bar, Calif., who drove from Boise for the day to see the ice sculptures and soak up their first Carnival ex- perience. "It's great. We love this," said Hansen as she sipped hot choco- late in front of a statue of Lady Lib- erty. "It could snow even harder and wed be happy." For the last week, townspeople have worked late into the night to finish 52 ice sculptures before vis- itors arrived. The crew at Krahn's furniture store put the finishing touches on their grand -prize winning sculp- ture, called "Cheeseburger in Par- adise," at 1130 p.m. Thursday, then returned at 7:30 a.m. Friday morn- ing to sweep off snow that had fall- en overnight. Why a Jimmy Buffet song title? "I'm kind of a Buffet fan, a par- rothead," said Dan Krahn, who has been building sculptures at the store for 24 years. "We decided to celebrate Amer- ica on the lighter side," he said. "We thought, let's do something fun." In typical Krahn fashion, the de- tails make the cheeseburger and Idaho fries look good enough to eat. The palm trees are a nice whimsical touch. Carnival week is a mixed bless- ing for some merchants, such as Mark Jensen, 23-year owner of the Chevron station in the middle of town. The thousands of extra peo- ple in town scare some of his reg- ular customers off, he said, but vis- itors make up the difference. "It really helps the restaurants and motels and condos," Jensen said. "All the retail businesses ben- efit to a certain extent. Overall, it creates a positive impact." Business definitely was brisk at the McCall Rotary Club hot dog stand, another Carnival tradition. For 29 years, the Rotary has been hawking hot dogs, chorizos, soda and hot chocolate from the same downtown sidewalk stand to fund scholarships for local kids. "We've been doing better this year than we ever have before," said David Holland of McCall. "The snow is absolutely great. This year, were good to go. The club's selection of carnival beads also was proving popular. By mid -afternoon, Rotary Club member Hal Cusick had sold more than 1,500 strands of brightly col- ored beads, which people wear over their sweaters and parkas. "This is part of the winter tra- dition in Idaho," Holland said. "It just isn't winter unless you go to Winter Carnival." Winning sculptures Grand prize: Krahn's Home Furnishings, "Cheeseburger in Paradise" 1st place: Mountain Central Association of Realtors, "American Eagle" 2nd place: Payette National Forest, "United We Stand" 3rd place: Team Carnival, "United We Stand" Nature: Hometown Sports/Mountain Lake Realty/The Pub, "Celebrate the American Bison" Action: Sagebrush BBQ, "The Sagebrush Armored Color Guard" Historical: Team Carnival, "United We Stand" Student built: Lardo's BSU team, "Wonder Woman and Superman" First timer's award: May Hardware, "Statue of Liberty" Home/family built: Aspen Market, "Sweet Sippin' " Child appeal: Hearthstone at Spring Mountain Ranch, "Hearthstone Bears" Most photogenic: Burke Family/Pancake and Christmas House, "Santa arriving for breakfast" American Heroes: The Mill Restaurant Slushers, "Of the People, By the People, Forthe People" Honorable mention: Special Olympians/Bryan's Burger Den, "No Fear -Special Olympians" c6 o 5/o.IPS G7")2 f / / c Q .27 Annual McCall parade turns winter red, white, blue By Susan Whaley The Idaho Statesman Old Man Winter smiled on the Mardi Gras Grand Parade in McCall on Saturday. The snow that had been falling all morning stopped, and the sun even peeked through the clouds occasion- ally, as the merriment snaked through town for nearly an hour. The light-hearted parade is the highlight of the 10-day Mc- Call Winter Carnival, which continues daily through next Sunday, Feb. 3. Many spectators say the Mardi Gras parade is an an- nual winter tradition they wouldn't miss for the world. Ed and Cindy Schiller of Nampa introduced the event to their first grandchild, Tay- lor, who is almost 2 years old. "We try to be here every year for Winter Carnival," Cindy Schiller said. "We love it." Taylor, decked out in col- orful strands of Carnival beads, liked the animals and especially the candy that was tossed from passing floats, her grandparents said. "Grandpa's got a whole pocketful," Ed Schiller said. Like the ice sculptures that dot the resort town, the pa- rade had a distinctly patriot- ic feel this year. The perennial crowd fa- vorite — a high-spirited drill team calling itself the Wacky Women — wore red, white and blue outfits, waved flags and danced. to Aretha Franklin's "R-E-S-P-E-C-T." This was the ninth year for the Wacky Women, who work for the Payette Nation- al Forest in their saner mo- ments. Grand marshals were Val- ley Council military veterans. They were escorted by Mc- Call police cars and fire trucks that started the parade at noon with an impressive ar- ray of blinking lights, honk- ing horns and blaring sirens. Cat Hall of McCall enjoyed the parade's dog sled teams, a tradition that harkens back to the Carnival's 1924 roots, when dog sleds were a com- mon form of transportation in the mountain town. "It was great they brought it back this year," Hall said. Parade Master of Cere- monies Dennis Ackerman said the size of the crowd seemed the same as previous years, despite snowier weath- er and the crowd -drawing Olympic torch celebration in Boise. "I was expecting it to be visibly smaller, but it wasn't," Ackerman said of the McCall crowd. At IdahoStatesman.com Read all about the McCall Winter Carnival in a guide to the festivities. Susan Whaley / The Idaho Statesman McCall residents show their patriotic spirit with flags and music at the annual Mardi Gras Grand Parade, a crowd - pleasing highlight of the annual McCall Winter Carnival. SZ e.sfrrct) 1/,1q /-2.00 Since 1924, McCall carnival has grown What once was just a sled -dog race now is a two -week party By Pat Thornton Special to The Idaho Statesman MCCALL — If the guy who started it all could see it today, he just wouldn't believe it. His "baby" has grown from a sled - dog race into the McCall Winter Carnival, one of the biggest tourist events in this part of the world. Not counting the Olympics, that is. It all began in 1924 under the banner of the Payette Lakes Sports Carnival, a three-day event organized by a local merchant who planned a mile -long sled - dog race for young boy mushers, then tacked on ski racing and jumping, snowshoe races and a snow -shoveling contest. It was a grand affair that brought the largest train ever to he town — 248 passengers, in- luding Gov. C.C. Moore. There ere taxi -boat rides on frozen Payette Lake, ski joring (being towed on skis by a horse) and a toboggan ride from the top of the otel building that, if lucky, end- ed on the lake across the street. Over the next five years, the sports carnival was reduced to a single happening: the "ice break- p contest." The winner was the erson who guessed closest to he day, hour and minute a bar - el placed on the ice in the mid - le of Payette Lake would float and touch the shore. This chal- enging event lasted until 1941. Fourteen years and World War I I would pass before the winter arnival was revived in 1965. This ime, according to Bob Scoles, ho owned McCall Drugs and as been quoted in several ources as the carnival historian, t was a community effort sought by a group of business - en to stimulate the mid -winter conomy. That core group, in addition to toles, included Ted Harwood, ayette Lakes Lumber Co.; Al • Schalfelberger, Idaho Power; Danny DeFrancesco, The West- ern Store; Don Boos, Shaver's; Don McMahan, The Payette Lakes Star (now The Star -News); and Warren Brown, sawmill own- er and the town's major employ- er. The weekend featured a torch- light parade, talent shows, snow- mobile races, ski events, daylight parade, art exhibit, dancing, fire- works and ... (ta dah!) snow sculptures. Again, dreams were bigger than reality. For example, 200 torches were prepared but only about 20 were actually car- ried because of subzero temper- atures. The Saturday parade through the center of town con- sisted of the town's police car, two or three floats, two oil -tanker trucks with crepe paper, and the high school band. But 40 sculptures were carved from blocks of snow. Scoles said that carving method was not es- pecially successful. "We spent four hours on the first sculpture trying to make something out of a pile of snow," he said, "and af- ter four hours, we still had a pile of snow." Nevertheless, there were a few successes, simple as they were. A wine glass. Cut-outs, mostly of the state of Idaho. And the win- ner was a relief carving of Shar- lie, the mythical monster of Payette Lake, done by McCall - Donnelly High School Junior Class. The prize: $25! By 1993, Winter Carnival shed its country fair character and the city welcomed visitors with the world's tallest snowman — a 100- foot figure just south of town. The crew at Shore Lodge is cred- ited with the idea of building with slush, thus enabling the gargan- tuan and intricate creations of to- day. Winter Carnival has come a long way, but not without con- troversy. The most notable flap sparked nationwide headlines in 1981. That was when Carl Whitak- er and the LeMoine Brothers built a replica of Mannekin Fountain in Belgium that depicts a boy uri- nating into a fountain. Some charged it was obscene; others in- sisted tearing it down would be At right: Carnival sculptors de- rive their inspiration from a mul- titude of places. This figure, carved in the early 1980s, repre- sentsthe biblical hero Samson. censorship. Winter Carnival of- ficials finally caved in to a deluge of complaints and had a backhoe lift away the boy and fountain on the day of sculpture judging. Controversy or no, what one wag calls "McCa11's annual con- tribution to the Playtex Compa- ny" has grown into a fantasyland of characters and heroic figures and scenes. And none of this would have happened had not a merchant wanted to stimulate wintertime business. But, like Sharlie, that merchant remains a mvsterv. Statesman file photos Above: In 1986, ice -sculpture carvers paid tribute to the crew members of the doomed Chal- lenger space shuttle with this display and plaque.