Ice Park Family Fun

The unusually cold weather we have been having serves only one good purpose, it means the George Horner Ice Art Park can stay open for another week. The park was scheduled to close on March 25th, but will stay open due to below-normal temperatures.

The park is always a good time for both children and adults. From the slippery slides, Fred Meyer maze, to the ice sculptures themselves, the park is always a family fun event.

The massive ice sculptures are magnificent already, but seen by night with the colored-lights propped up behind them, they are gorgeous. After spending a great amount of time on the slides with my children, we ventured through the trails to scope out the sculptures. Both me and my husband Jacob’s favorite ones were the gigantic sculptures, particularly the one titled Prickly Perception. This masterpiece had an eerie leopard about to pounce on an ever ready porcupine. My 6-year-old daughter’s favorite was a single-block ice sculpture of a butterfly. My 2-year-old son couldn’t quite capture the beauty of the art, but he seemed to get a kick out of pulling his blue plastic sled through the narrow trails causing passerby’s to stumble if they got too close.

After walking through the trails, we warmed up with hot cocoa. Ready for another round of fun, we played on the spinning ice and posed with walruses and polar bears. To top off the night, Jacob and my daughter, Kahlia, ice skated in the rink while my son slid around in his Sorel’s. We spent a good four hours reveling in the park and thanks to the many pictures taken, we'll get to remember our last year spent living in Fairbanks.