Chaos: a state of disorder or confusion, with no order or organization:

It’s fun to watch chaos turn into order. It’s two days before Valentine’s Day, the day the Fairgrounds turn into Ice Alaska, home of the World Ice Art Championships. Multi Block ice carving, (4 man teams carving 9 blocks of ice), competition begins the morning of the 14th. There are 12 multi block teams this year with teams from Australia, Germany, Philippines, Japan, and China to name some of the countries competing other than the United States. I am sitting in the “office” in what used to be Badger Building and is now Gasser. Not a table is empty; they are filled with cables, chainsaws, lights, half-filled cups of cold coffee, drying gloves. Dean has been “playing” with his chainsaws for hours, straightening and checking the blades. Brittany, in charge of all the lighting, has been checking the colors of all her lights. She is responsible for turning the entire park into a fairy land at night. The artists’ name tags, spread over an entire table, are being laminated and put in lanyards. They will be distributed tomorrow, the 13th, at the Welcome Meeting for the multi block sculptors. The “office” looks chaotic, but to all the sculptors milling about it makes sense.

The park is almost finished and will be ready for the gates to open. The slides are about ready for racing, the cornhole games are ready for tossing, the stage is ready for awards. There is a new sculpture this year, commemorating the 40th anniversary of Ice Alaska. There is a plethora of fun kids’ sculptures including Cinderella’s pumpkin carriage. See you soon.