Bethel is a beautiful little town tucked away in the mountains in Oxford county. It is home to the Sunday River ski area and not very far from Grafton Notch State Park. It is a great place to visit at any time of the year, but today I want to share with you one of the winter activities that the town is known for—ice sculptures and snowmen(women).
You see, people in Bethel just love to play in the snow! In 1999, the tallest snowman was created. He was called “Angus” for our governor 
at the time, Angus King. He was a formidable 113’7″ tall. The record was topped in 2008 with a record setting snowwoman. They named her Olympia after our senator, Olympia Snowe. She was 122’1″ and weighed in at 13,000,000 pounds. A contest was held after each of these to see who could guess when they would melt. Angus melted in June and Olympia in July. Click HERE to see more photo’s of how these snowpeople were made.
Bethel is home to a WinterFest each year where fun activities are held daily (sorry, this years activities are over). One of the main events that happens during this time is the building of fabulous ice sculptures.
The spectacular ice and snow sculptures were located in a refrigerated tent this year to keep them cold. This year they probably didn’t need to do that but you never know about the weather in Maine and a refrigerated tent ensures that the sculptures last for a while.
Team Yukon, the team that won the International Snow Sculpting Event at the Quebec Winter Carnival last year, carved two of the largest sculptures fo
r WinterFest. One of them was of three bears having fun waterskiing and the other has a moose riding an ATV getting ready to jump over another ATV! This team travels all over around the world carving snow and ice.
The moose and ATV’s sculpture was a fun photo opportunity — you could even sit on this and take photo’s. I was not able to get to Bethel to view the sculptures this year but here is a photo of the beginning of the moose. Quite impressive, isn’t it?
The Maine Snow & Ice Sculpting Foundation Championship will be held on February 19-21 at the L.L.Bean store in Freeport. The artists will start working on their pieces on Thursday the 19th and will be able to work at their own pace until Saturday the 21st at 11am. An awards ceromony will be held at 12 noon. The sculptures will then be on display until they melt. If you have never seen one of these ice carvings, be sure to take a trip to LL Bean if you are in the area.
I’m enjoying the blog – one note: Snowe is married to former governor John “Jock” McKernan, not Angus King.
Oh my gosh, Mike, that is what happens when I write stuff while I am still half asleep!I wrote that while I had my first cup of coffee this morning and I read it over numerous times before I published it and never caught that. Thanks so much for letting me know. I’m glad that you are enjoying the blog. It is nice to know that others are reading it.
I had forgotten about the Bethel ice sculptures. We would be amazed at what they created each year. When we were working on the road we passed through there each month and and something was always going on. It is a great town, recommend checking it out if anyone is traveling in that area.
Bethel is a great little town, Coppertop, in any season. It’s funny how we forget all the nifty stuff that surrounds us while folks travel from far and wide to see these things.
Makes sense that a team from Canada would come by to remind Mainers what a moose looks like!
;p
Stay warm!
Naw! we folks in Maine know what moose look like, Manju. They just hide from certain people. T has seen them so it must be you.
You could always come for a visit next summer and we will go moose hunting again!
T here. Moose in Maine? Yep, I’ve seen one close up.
Wish it would snow down here in Balmy Maryland. Have a good weekend. We’re off to explore DC tomorrow.
I think that you have seen more than one, up close. I think M doesn’t see them because she is such a non-believer!
Don’t think you can expect any snow down there anytime soon. Looks like it is in the 40′s today. Have fun in DC!
Interesting story! Hope I could visit the place and experience it myself!..