Jan. 27, 2007: Mount Holly's Sounds Of Icy Urgency

Photos and Story By Joe Zlomek

An electric chain saw whined as its spinning teeth bit into a hundreds-pound heavy block of ice. The chink-chink-chink of steel hammer hitting steel chisel reverberated across High Street. And an official timekeeper busily reminded contestants, “only an hour and a half left!”

On the streets of downtown Mount Holly NJ, a sculptor uses an electric chain saw to fashion a block of ice during the city's annual Fire And Ice Festival. (Find this photo at StockXchng)

Those were the sounds of urgency Saturday (Jan. 27, 2007) as Mount Holly NJ celebrated its annual Fire and Ice Festival. Promoted by its business community as a “free, family-friendly event,” the combined ice carving competition and chili cook-off attracted about 1,500 people to the city’s downtown, 22 miles northeast of Philadelphia.

It was barely cold enough for ice or chili. Winter sunshine bathed Mount Holly’s historic streets for much of the day, and temperatures peaked in the mid-40s. The unexpected warmth caused ice to melt faster and forced competing sculptors to hurry their work. A few streets away, where chili contestants toiled inside Relief Fire Company No. 1, the intended heat of their recipes seemed superfluous.

Visitors, though, reveled in the day. They toured the streets with collars opened and jackets unzipped, stopping every few feet to watch the carvers transform their four-foot-tall rectangles of ice into something easily recognizable. A wave-cresting dolphin sprang from one block; a robin, from another; an arrow-wielding Indian from a third.

Activity could be found at almost every corner within the downtown’s barricaded four-block area. A bright red fire engine, displaced from its garage by chili tasters, ferried youngsters on free rides with its siren blaring. A line of huskies shuffled anxiously as their trainers demonstrated dog sledding techniques. Soldierly shouts rose above the crowd noise at a nearby encampment of Revolutionary War re-enacters.

Shop owners welcomed a complimentary sound … the ring of their cash registers. The festival is sponsored by Main Street Mount Holly, an non-profit organization created primarily to help the downtown become a vibrant business center and arts and entertainment district.

Many of the competing carvers have experience in the art, according to Heather McCall, Main Street Mount Holly executive director. "A lot of them are chefs or culinary school graduates" who learned ice sculpting as part of their future careers, she says. Although Mount Holly's is not a sanctioned event, it does abide by contest rules created by the Illinois-based National Ice Carving Association.

Crowds roam the festival streets during the warm winter day.