DETROIT – This weekend, visitors at the Winter Blast in Detroit’s Campus Martius will be able to see hundreds of ice sculptures.
Those sculptures begin on a computer design program.
“The higher resolution, the better copy I start with, the better the end result’s going to be,” Bradley Groszkiewicz said. “I see how many blocks I need to stack it up to be able to create this walrus in a 3D fashion out of squares.”
The design goes from a computer to a projector screen, when gets etched onto ice blocks made at US Ice Carvings in Oak Park.
Once the work on the computer is done, a template of the design is placed on the ice. Groszkiewicz will carve more than 200 blocks of ice for the Winter Blast, which is about 6,000 pounds of ice.
This year’s theme is arctic animals.
“Penguins, walruses -- we’ll have a big polar bear with some cubs behind it,” Groszkiewicz said.
Visitors will also get a chance to see Groszkiewicz carve a few arctic animals at the festival.
“They’ll get to see the snow flying and the chunks of ice fall off, so that’s the fun part,” Groszkiewicz said.
The Winter Blast also offers free ice skating, tube sliding and food trucks.
“Marshmallow roasting, live music, family activities from TCF Bank -- I mean, we really have something for everyone,” said Stephanie McIntyre, the program director for the Winter Blast.
The Quicken Loans Winter Blast weekend, presented by Soaring Eagle, beings Friday and runs through the weekend. Admission is free.