MCCALL, Idaho — Massive snow and ice sculptures fill the streets during the McCall Winter Carnival, but warmer-than-usual weather has caused some to melt or collapse just days into the festivities. But sculptors are hard at work maintaining their works of art as best they can.
One of the standout pieces is a 16-foot-tall Sharlie, the beloved, legendary lake serpent said to live in Payette Lake. Sculptor Luna Garff spent two weeks building it to match this year’s carnival theme: Where in the World is Sharlie?
"We are only three days in," Garff said. "Really, everything with snow sculpting comes down to the weather."
WATCH | Meet Sculptor Luna Garff as she explains how she's maintaining her massive 16-foot-tall Sharlie—
It takes lots of snow, water, mixing, stomping, molding, and scraping to get the sculpture to look just right.
"It's just like building a big snowman — you just wanna compact the snow really tight," she said.
With temperatures much warmer than usual, Garff has been working to keep her Sharlie in good shape through the 10-day festival.
"For me, this is a new experience to be able to come out and maintain for an entire week for the 10-day festival," she said.
Armed with an arsenal of homemade tools, Garff scrapes, sands, and hardens the sculpture. At night, when temps drop, she sprays it with water to create a protective layer of ice.
"What this does is it helps to make the snow more compact, so it makes it last longer," she said. "We usually come out about every other day, just to kind of make sure that the integrity is still there, that it's still standing, that nothing's fallen off quite yet."
Garff’s sculpture has held up well so far, but others have not fared as well — including the first-place winner, which partially collapsed over the weekend.
Still, the wacky, wild works of art continue to draw folks from all over.
"It's cool, I think it's exciting to see what people do, community brings them together," said Wes and Marj Wornell, who are visiting McCall for the carnival.
"During the winter, the kids always want to make snowman, so of course, them getting to see giant snowmen and giant sculptures probably gives them even more motivation to go play in the snow and build their own things," said Ashley Tucker, who brought the whole family for the event.
You can find our guide to the McCall Winter Carnival here.
