Cliff Vacheresse (pictured left) and Andrew Wagner (pictured right) are two of a team of three working to help bring the Grande North Winter Festival to life. Photo Credit: Shane Clausing

By Shane Clausing

grande north winter festival

Preparations underway for first Grande North Winter Festival

Jan 11, 2022 | 12:41 PM

Preparations are underway to get the first Grande North Winter Festival up and running in the Swan City.

The festival takes place from January 14-16 throughout downtown Grande Prairie and features various ice sculptures and outdoor winter activities.

For the last week, ice sculptors have been working to build an ice bar, slide, and other items for people to enjoy.

Cliff Vacheresse is one of the carvers for the Grande North Winter Festival. He tells EverythingGP there is currently a team of three working to get everything ready for Friday.

“There is myself, Andrew Wagner from Edmonton and Mick Bradshaw who is also a local from Grande Prairie who has also joined us. Between the three of us, we’ve put together all of the snow and ice elements,” he explained.

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In order to create the items, Vacheresse and his team have to order blocks of ice from his friend in Saskatchewan. From there, they can begin to carve the items and create what it is they want to create.

“We’re here for two full weeks. Hours would be hard to say, but at least 80-100 hours. It depends how intricate you get with stuff too, but for us, it’s making sure that we get done what we plan on doing,” he said.

Vacheresse says preparing for the Grande Winter North Festival is basically like preparing for a smaller version of the Ice on Whyte festival in Edmonton.

“This is defiantly dialed back, but it has a miniature feel for me anyway. We use all the same tents, have an ice bar every year and it’s kind of a similar idea. It’s a great space for it, it’s beautiful and hopefully, it can grow.”

As far as construction goes, Vachersse mentioned sculpting their ideas into reality is the toughest part of the job. He mentioned the easiest items to build are actually the ice bar and slide.

Photo: Shane Clausing

Ice slide built just outside of Montrose Cultural Centre. Photo Credit: Shane Clausing

View from top of the slide. Photo: Shane Clausing

View of the rink just outside of the Montrose Cultural Centre. Photo: Shane Clausing

Vacheresse added that Grande Prairie is just one of many festivals they get asked to help out with throughout the wintertime.

“Edmonton is home base and we have the Ice on Whyte Festival, we’ve been kind of all over Alberta,” he said. “High Level, Fairview, Grande Prairie, Blackfalds, Sylvan, we’ve been all over Alberta. We’ve been doing the travelling stuff for six years now and I make sure I take this time off from my normal work to be an ice carver and snow builder.”

Vacheresse mentioned the best time to check out their creations will be at night, as the slide and bar have LED lights built into them.