Snow Sculpture Event Starts Next Tuesday

The Budweiser Select International Snow Sculpture Championships at the Breckenridge Riverwalk Center gets underway next Tuesday.

Competitors include teams from Canada, Czech Republic, Mexico, Switzerland, Turkey and nine teams from in United States, including Breckenridge, Alaska, Colorado (Cañon City), Idaho, Minnesota, New York, Oregon and two teams from Wisconsin.

The sculptors will sculpt Tuesday through Saturday before judging on Saturday. Each four-person teams is assigned a 12-foot-tall, 20-ton block of machine-made snow. These teams work within a five-day period to create sensational sculptures - sometimes enormous pieces of whimsy and sometimes with powerful political or social commentary. The finished pieces are achieved after a total of 65 hours of work without the use of power tools, internal support structures or colorants.

When the sculptures are finished, a panel of artists and patrons of the arts serve as judges and will present awards to the first, second and third place sculptures. Awards are also given for People's Choice, Kids' Choice and Artists' Choice. There are no cash prizes; the artists instead revel in the reward of hard work, forged friendships, freedom of artistic expression and the satisfaction of long hours of preparation that lead to the event.

Sculptures will remain on display in Breckenridge until Feb. 4, weather permitting. Visit gobreck.com for more information.