McCall's Annual Snow & Ice Carving Festival!

Saturday - the Big Parade Day - and Ice Sculpture Tours - Fireworks over the Lake at Dark!

This winter event is well attended! The ice carvings through out town are incredible works of art. The crowds were difficult to manage, so we will be visiting different sculptures throughout the week, as this is a week-long party up here! Today it is snowing, there is about 2 inches of snow covering the sculptures, which is unfortunate, because it hides some of the incredible detail work!

Watch the rail road tracks, as the train is comin' through!

Plug your ears, the miners are gonna blast a hole in the mountain . . .

Heres a bunch of real Mexican Cowboys . . .

The festivities were launched today with a "Mardi Gras" style parade. There was dancing and drums, candy and beaded necklaces being thrown from the participants. The boys had a blast chasing down the beads, and I even caught a nice new baseball cap - Carter concented to wear it for me - ever so stylishly! It was chilly, but really happenin!

Bright colors, eclectic ideas, the parade was more than we thought it would be . . . Kids of all ages participated, and they nominated a "Lord and Lady of the Lake" from the old folks home, as you can see in the center waving their multi-colored feather dusters! The festival was Western themed this year, so even the young ladies wore huge handlebar moustaches!!!

One of the first participants in the parade were these gorgeous dancing cowgirls! They had this sexy, fun routine, and got the crowd hootin' and hollerin'. A persons' natural assumption would be that this was the High School pep team, or the like. But as they got closer, it was wonderful to see that not a cowgirl out there - in crazy bright tights and short skirts - was less than 35 or 40 years old! They were adorable! I have to find out how to sign up for next year's event! He He. Check back soon . . . more photos and events will be coming throughout the week. We're just gettin' this wagon rollin'. . .