The Northern Alaska Refuges 2006 Ice Sculpture - a lynx chases a snowshoe hare.

An interpretive information panel embedded in ice accompanied the 2006 ice sculpture.

The blue goose greeted visitors to the Northern Alaska Refuges ice sculpure on Family Fun Day.

Our beloved Blue Goose greeted nearly all of the 2,500 people visiting the Winter Carnival Ice Park in Fairbanks, Alaska for the annual Family Fun Day on Saturday, March 4. The Ice Park features a kid’s park and is also home to the World Ice Art Championships, where ice carvers from around the world gather to test their skills in the largest ice sculpting competition in the world.  Throughout the month of March, these internationally renowned events typically draw 45,000 spectators. 

Fairbanks is the headquarters of Arctic, Kanuti, and Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuges, which partnered with the world-class ice sculpting Benjamin Firth family of Homer, Alaska, as well as the non-profit “Ice Alaska”, to create an ice sculpture promoting the National Wildlife Refuge System. 

Living in a land of permafrost and long winters, Fairbanks children greet spring by enjoying the follies of the Kids’ Park, which features interactive kid-sized ice forms such as mazes, slides and spinning whirly-seats as well as tantalizing sculptures that add both beauty and whimsy to the park. The Refuges’ sculpture reinforced this year’s theme, “Ice, Camera, Action!” by depicting a lynx and hare in the thick of the chase accompanied by an “ice banner” which displayed an interpretive panel and Blue Goose symbol.  All of the park’s forms glisten in early spring’s crisp, bright sunlight by day and glow with faceted colors from accent lighting by night.   

The wonderland of ice sculptures in the Kids’ Park lasts until temperatures rise above freezing, usually mid-April—just as visitors begin to plan their wildlife viewing and photography adventures to places like Arctic, Kanuti, and Yukon Flats Refuges.   

For more information about the Northern Alaska refuges ice sculpture, please contact Jennifer Reed, Visitor Services Coordinator for Arctic NWR, at (907) 455-1835 or jennifer_reed@fws.gov.