Before we got frozen into our lockdown world in 2021, York’s popular free Ice Trail in previous years had embraced themes like ‘Myths and Legends’ followed by ‘Fantastical Fiction and Fairy Tales.’
Attractions and businesses are able to advertise next to the ice sculptures they have sponsored which is why this event gets bigger and attracts thousands more sightseers every year. Eight tons of ice got transformed last time, some highlights being models of an Azuma train (LNER), Stephenson’s ‘Rocket’ (Railway Museum), a cannon (Army Museum), a Gingerbread man (Betty’s) and Guy Fawkes (St Peter’s school). York Dungeon were allowing people to take selfies in their medieval ice pillory and Middleton’s hotel lent their garden to Harry Potter and Hedwig.
For practical reasons, most of the carving has been completed before the sculptures are displayed on the streets of medieval York but there are always some sculptors still at work and an opportunity for children to have a try themselves on an ice wall.
‘Ice Box’ are the company providing the trail this year. They have been perfecting their skills since 1993 and are probably most famous for their true sized Formula One racing car made entirely of ice!
Contributed by Louise Fawn – a York and Yorkshire Blue Badge Guide
Picture credit: York-Ice-Trail-Returns_003-©-Charlotte-Graham
