Ice sculptures to adorn downtown Downers Grove during annual festival

The sidewalks of downtown Downers Grove soon will feature more than 65 ice sculptures as the village prepares to welcome residents to its annual Ice Festival.

The Downers Grove Ice Festival will be Feb. 3-5, with live carvings available for viewing from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Main Street train station. The event, hosted by the Downers Grove Downtown Management Corporation for the 13th year, has seen its largest interest yet from sponsoring businesses, said Erin Venezia, executive director of the corporation.

As of Jan. 27, 65 sculptures have been pre-purchased by sponsoring businesses, Venezia said, more than ever before. In addition to the sculptures, this year’s event will see the return of the kissing booth, an ice bench on Main Street, games such as bozo buckets made of ice and other attractions.

“It’s great to inspire people to get out after being so cooped up for these winter months,” Venezia said. “Seeing so many people and families is so fun, and, of course, the ice is such beautiful art that we have the opportunity to display.”

For many years, the sculptures for the festival have been carved by Nadeau Ice Sculptures, one of the oldest ice sculpting businesses in the country, said Max Barajas, owner of the business. Barajas has ventured through many careers in his life, spanning from chef to carpenter, but his love of ice sculpting is the perfect combination of all of those worlds, he said.

Barajas began at Nadeau as a sculptor 10 years ago, quickly rising to become the owner of the company. Being one of the last companies in the Chicago area that does creative ice sculpting rather than just functional ice sculpting, Barajas said the Downers Grove Ice Fest is an event he and his staff always look forward to.

“It’s been a lot of fun, and with so many businesses being invested, we get to display a lot of creativity and variety,” Barajas said. “It’s really become something all its own and for us it feels a lot like a second Christmas.”

When the Ice Fest began, most sculptures were made entirely by hand, generating varieties from year to year even when a business sponsored the same design it previously had, Barajas said. Now, with new technology, the company has been able to perfect certain staple shapes such as a unicorn, allowing sculptors to spend more time on intricate and unique handmade details for each sculpture.

The sculptors look forward to the opportunity to do live sculpting, Barajas said, even in years when the weather has not been a friend to the medium of ice. Over the years, the Nadeau sculptors have developed strategies to combat warmer weather, Barajas said, but it’s always an adventure sculpting in blizzards or 70-degree weather.

“We’re hoping the weather is a good friend this year,” Barajas said. “It’s interesting because ice is a very unique medium and everyone’s perspective is so different. We just try to put on a better show every year for the people who come out to see us.”