Way back in September I learned about an annual event called the Sapporo Ice and Snow Fest. It's a week long event that attracts over 2 million people and has been occurring for about 65 years. The event features 2 kilometers of giant ice and snow sculptures...
some of which measure 50 feet high and 80 feet wide.
Travelling north gave us an opportunity to experience a little winter. Yokosuka, where we live, did not see any snow this year except for a few flurries. I don't think the temperatures went below 40 most days. But, hailing from Chicago as we do, we had all the necessary winter gear. (Ironically it was colder when we visited Chicago in November than it has been here all winter.)
Sapporo Fest is a great family event with fun for kids and parents of all ages. We were only there for 2 1/2 days but we had a blast. Here are some highlights of our trip:
There were several blocks of intricate ice sculptures, many of which were illuminated at night. Unfortunately the night we arrived had been rainy so we suspect a lot of the detail had been washed off but for the most part we could tell what we were looking at.
Of course we had to consume lots of ice cold Sapporo beer in keeping with the theme of the festival.
During the day time we went to the Tsu Dome Site, a family oriented site with snow slides, smaller snow sculptures and hands-on activities for kids. Inside the dome we found bounce houses, food stands and even a magician.
The Sandors posing with the first of many, many Olafs.
We all got to try the ice/snow slides. This was actually the smallest one. If you look closely you can see Mike and Quinn in the background.
The main part of the festival really begs to be seen at night. The ice looks great illuminated and the shadows really show off the detail in the snow.
Nerd alert: This was Mike's favorite one.
One of the coolest displays was this horse. It was sponsored by the nearby racetrack. As Reese would say, "It was a snow horse but then it started moving! ...but not really."
Reese really got in the spirit of things.
The festival started on Thursday but we didn't arrive until Sunday so most of the sculptures had been finished by then but we did get to see one that was still in progress. It was neat to see how they made them.
We still have not spent much time in Tokyo. (I know, I know, I don't want to talk about it.) So it was fun to be in Sapporo which is much more of a metropolis than where we live.
One of the buildings downtown even had a ferris wheel on the roof so it was our last bit of fun before heading to the airport to return home.
A (slightly blurry) photo of us taken by Reese.
A good time was had by all!
