February 9, 2022 – On Saturday, February 12, Argenta’s Elm Street will become a festival for 2022’s IceFest. This will be the sixth year of IceFest, with more features added this year after last year was a drive-through event. Professional ice sculptor and owner of Double A Carving Co. Aaric Kendall put on a carving demonstration today to preview the event.
The blocks of ice that Kendall uses are manufactured by the man himself. The machines that make the ice take about two to three days to make two 300 pound blocks. He got into ice carving through culinary school, which is a related field, and he was introduced to carving in chef school while in New York, and his travels haven’t stopped there.
“I’ve been around the world. I’ve been to two Olympic games and carved and competed there. I’ve won the national championship in Chicago, I’ve been to Fairbanks, Alaska, I’ve been to Canada, I’ve been to Japan…it’s taken me around the world,” said Kendall.
His main tool, the chainsaw, has been in his hands since he was a kid when his father would send him out to cut limbs off of trees to heat their house with wood. There are differences in cutting wood and ice and Kendall shared some of the details of his work.
“There is absolutely a difference. Ice doesn’t have any grain and cuts differently than wood. You also sharpen the chain differently…for how hard ice is, there is very little resistance so it moves very quickly. The chains I’m using today you wouldn’t really be able to cut wood with them. They are super aggressive for the speed.”
