4747. See the Ice Sculptures downtown Appleton

 Every year the city of Appleton places ice sculptures on College Ave. They are carved by local artists. I've checked them out before. Since I really wanted good bagels, I had to head down town to pick up bagels at Bagelicious. I figured since I was already downtown, I might as well walk College Ave to see the ice sculptures. 

The ice sculptures were placed the entire length of College Ave from State Street to Drew Street on both sides of the street.. roughly a 3/4 of a mile. Many local businesses also had special deals for the ice sculptures. 

I was disappointed that many of the ice sculptures were advertisements for the business that sponsored the ice sculpture. I would have preferred to see more animals and abstract shapes... not squares that depicted the name of a business craved in ice.

There were some repeats from other years

My favorite definitely was not square.

I did not walk all the way up to State Street since I didn't think there was anything up that way. Because of this, I miss this sculpture.

Even though we were outside, most people wore masks and kept a decent distance apart. I am fast walker and got chided by a lady because I was too close to her. I eventually was able to pass her. 

I am glad I decided to head out and check out the ice sculptures. It was a nice morning for a walk and it was great to get outside. I will try again to see them every year to see if they are still so boxy or if they are actual sculptures. 

890. See the Ice Sculptures at the PAC

I heard once that the Milwaukee PAC had a display of awesome ice sculptures every winter. Well.. apparently I keep missing the memo and can never find any information about the ice sculptures at the PAC in Milwaukee. However, Appleton has a PAC as well and they have some ice sculptures out front every winter too as part of downtown Appleton's Winter Gala. Well it's a PAC and there are ice sculptures therefore it counts according to my sources.

With that in mind, when Appleton finally got around to having their Winter Gala this year I knew I had to go check out the ice sculptures. Danielle and Gavin tagged along too.

Honestly I wasn't overly impressed. Some of them were really artistic and others were just advertising.

As we strolled College Avenue, I began to wonder if there was a penguin theme this year because there were a lot of penguins.

There were several I liked but I think my favorite was the Eiffel Tower in front of the PAC. It was perfect for the upcoming show of "An American in Paris."

Danielle like the child catching snowflakes.

There was also some ice sculptures for the Community Vow Renewal in honor of Valentine's Day including an ice cake.

A few of my other favorites

We may have missed a few of the sculptures since it was a bit chilly outside.

All of the ice sculptures were very well done. I thought the advertising was a bit pretentious and it turned me off even though I get they were sponsors of the event. If you want to advertise your building or are a sponsor of the event turn it into a really cool ice sculpture and not just a logo. I want to see art.

Hopefully one day I will get to see the ice sculptures in Milwaukee until then I will keep enjoying the ones in Appleton.