Keene's Ice & Snow Festival Promises to Sparkle and Delight

As unique as each snowflake it aims to celebrate, the annual Keene Ice & Snow Festival brings families, vendors and downtown merchants together for a free day of community fun and outdoor frolicking. This year's festival will be held Saturday, Feb. 1, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., in downtown Keene and features an ice-carving competition between 12 professional ice carvers from the Monadnock Region and other parts of New England. In addition to this main attraction, the event includes a wide variety of additional free activities for all ages. The Keene Downtown Group has been responsible for organizing the event since 2019, say two of the organizers, Jim Narkiewicz and Mark Rebillard. Rebillard is chair of the Keene Downtown Group and owner of Deep Roots Massage & Bodywork, while Narkiewicz was a longtime Keene hotel manager who has relocated but stayed on board as an advisor. Previously run by entities such as the Monadnock Travel Council and the Keene Chamber of Commerce, the all-volunteer Keene Downtown Group sought to provide a new home for the perennial event to keep it vibrant and enjoyable for all, said Rebillard. "It's a great festival," Rebillard said. "We wanted to throw our heart and soul into it. It took vision to keep it a free festival. We've hit the sweet spot. Every dollar raised goes to create the magic of memories for families and to create business for downtown." Rebillard said that in a survey following last year's festival, the merchants reported seeing between 30 to 300 percent more sales than on a typical February Saturday. It takes the assistance of many hands to pull it off, Narkiewicz pointed out. "We're lucky to have sponsors that send more than 30 volunteers to help out, from Granite State Ambassadors, Savings Bank of Walpole, Interact and Service Credit Union," Narkiewicz said. Many other businesses will participate by hosting stuffed Yeti creatures made by Jessica Gelter at Monadnock Arts Alive for the "Find the Yeti" scavenger hunt. There will be more than 20 hidden Yeti locations with a prize of fool's gold for successful hunting. At 10 a.m., The United Church of Christ bell will ring for the ice carvers to start their chainsaw engines. They will have until 2 p.m. to complete their creations, each carved from two 300-pound blocks of ice. Festivalgoers can vote for their favorite sculpture via QR codes at each carving site. Carvers will be located on Railroad Street, Gilbo Avenue, lower Main Street, Central Square and outside the Chamber of Commerce. Each ice sculpture sits on a pedestal which is then illuminated from below for sparkly nighttime viewing. They will be left on display (weather permitting) until Feb. 4. "We're also closing new streets this year," Rebillard added. In addition to Railroad and Main Streets, Church Street will be closed for a Winter Village Market of artisans and vendors, as well as Commercial Street for Snow Zone Ski and Ride demos from Granite Gorge Mountain Park. Other planned activities include a children's train ride, roaming circus acts by Wunderle's Big Top Adventures, cartoons at The Colonial Theatre and horse rides will be offered by Freedom Reins Therapeutic Riding Center on Davis Street. But that's not all. There will be face painting by Emily Sodders, balloon art, free campfire s'mores with graham crackers from Jack's Crackers, sugar-on-snow with help from Woodard's Sugar House and other local sugar houses, an interactive art exhibit, a touch-a-truck event with the City of Keene's giant snow blower from the Keene Dillant-Hopkins Airport and a children's midway with games and activities. While two years ago the event date needed to be moved from a Saturday to Sunday due to frigid temperatures, this year's forecast looks to be near-perfect for the event, Narkiewicz reports. In addition to the free s'mores, there will also be free hot cocoa stations, the Toasty Buns and Tito's Taqueria food trucks will be selling food and treats will be available at The United Church of Christ at the head of the square and at Elm City Church on Railroad Street. According to their informal "s'mores theory" of estimation based on sweet-treat distribution, last year's festival drew around 7,000 people, Rebillard said with a chuckle. A more official count done via analytical software estimated it was closer to 7,500. Rebillard and Narkiewicz emphasized that the sponsors are key to the festival's success. This year's top sponsors include C&S Wholesale Grocers, Paragon Digital Marketing, Savings Bank of Walpole, Mascoma Bank, Putnam Foundation, Finley Construction, Fidium Fiber, Price Chopper and Deep Roots Massage & Bodywork. In addition, Hamshaw Lumber donated materials for new signage, with Evolution Builders constructing the updated signs, which will be interchangeable and sustainable for future years and other local events. Ace Rental provided the sugar-on-snow machine and activities are sponsored by local businesses. "We keep doing it every year for the children," Narkiewicz said. "It's a great day of free and fun activities and it brings a lot of people to downtown Keene." "We get to do this for, and with, our community," Rebillard added. "It's a lot of fun. If anyone wants to get involved, they can email keenedowntowngroup@gmail.com. Stakeholders can be anyone who loves downtown; anybody who wants to get involved." Keene Ice & Snow Festival maps will be available at information centers on Central Square and Railroad Street. For more information, updates and an online festival map, follow "Keene, NH Ice & Snow Festival" on Facebook.