Preparations for the 2017 World Ice Art Championships are continuing in Fairbanks, despite a fire that destroyed the annual ice sculpture event’s main building Friday.
”Saturday, we harvested 120 blocks of ice," Ice Alaska Board chairman Hank Bartos said. "We're gonna have the events going on as normal because ice does not burn.”
Bartos said the board is meeting this week to talk about what its going to take, besides ice, to pull off the event, which is scheduled to start in about 2 months. He said the building which burned was also the residence of Ice Alaska officials Dick and Hoa Brickley, and was insured at the minimum of $1.5 million.
Brickley said one option being considered for replacing the burned building is converting another large structure at the Ice Alaska venue that’s currently used for cold storage. He said he believes the renovation can happen in time for this year’s ice carving event.