Rainbow Ice Sculptures
For the 2017 Lantern Parade at UES
Sunday, February 19th
We need the entire UES community to help create the building blocks, literally, for a day of colorful construction on Sunday, February 19. It’s easy! Please save your ½ gallon milk and juice cartons, rinse them out, fill with water to the top of the rectangle (not all the way if there is a plastic spout!) and a dash or two of food coloring, and leave outside to freeze. Save and freeze as many blocks as you can between now and February 19th. Ask your neighbors to help, get your grandmother to make colorful ice blocks too! On February 19th, we will be building colorful ice sculptures and functional outdoor furniture at Union Elementary School, where the parade and winter festival will culminate the following week. You will be able to drop your ice blocks off the day before and that morning, and we would love you to stay to help build if you can. Dan Clar and Seth Mitchell will be our construction and engineering leaders. Building will be an all day project so feel free to drop ice blocks and go, come back later if your Sunday schedule allows. The plan is to make tables and benches, to function at the celebration, and other fantastic colorful forms to celebrate UES. All community members are invited to participate. Our inspiration is the 2012 Edmonton Rainbow Igloo, and while we won’t be making covered structures that can be entered, we will be making hollow forms that we will light up from within! Our sculptures will glow colorfully as the lantern procession reaches the UES playground on February23rd. The sculptures will remain as long as nature allows.
In 2015 we did the same project and the results were magical. Many families helped with the construction and it made for wonderfully fast work that we all could share and take pride in. We will expand our sculptures this year if we can gather more blocks!
What you can do:
1. Save and rinse as many ½ gallon milk and juice PAPER cartons as you can between now and Feb.19
2. (plastic jugs are problematic, not square, etc. please avoid!)
3. Open up tops, add water and some food coloring, place outside to freeze. Do not fill to the top if there is a plastic spout
4. Bring UNWRAPPED/REMOVED frozen blocks to the UES playground starting Saturday February 18th through Sunday morning, February 19th(drop off location will be obvious)
5. If you want to make colored ice spheres with balloons, any size will be welcome. Its easy, use the same method as above, but with a balloon instead of milk carton:-)
Please email with any questions and/or if you know you definitely want to help build: marni.leikin@gmail.com
