The 131st “Coolest Celebration on Earth” wraps up this weekend, with the nighttime Torchlight Parade, the Overthrow of King Boreas by the Vulcans and fireworks in Rice Park on Saturday. Mother Nature has been pretty kind to the snow sculptures and ice carvings this year, so you can still see those. For all the events through Sunday, go to wintercarnival.com.
If you’re headed to the Torchlight Parade, you can wave your own virtual torch. Just search for the “Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt” in your Android or Apple app stores, download it and look for the Vulcan Torch icon in the corner. Hit it and you can hold up a tiny torch when the Vulcans pass in the parade.
RED BULL CRASHED ICE
Just up the hill from the Winter Carnival action, Crashed Ice has returned with the fantastical apparatus that sends competitors in hockey skates down a huge, luge-like tube that starts at the St. Paul Cathedral and takes a dizzy 1,600 foot trip, dropping 12 stories down the hill.
The “Ice Cross Downhill” competition is back in St. Paul for the sixth time. Competition is Feb. 3 and 4. It’s free to watch and it draws tens of thousands. For more info: redbull.com.
GREAT NORTHERN FESTIVAL
Winter Carnival is part of the new Great Northern festival, a 10-day cross-metro event that includes the U.S. Pond Hockey Championships and the City of Lakes Loppet Ski Festival in Minneapolis under one banner Jan. 27-Feb. 5. There’s information at thegreatnorthernfestival.com, but a couple remaining highlights are:
Loppet ski festival: Because of the warm weather and lack of snow cover, most of the action has been moved to Theodore Wirth Park. The big event, the Luminary Loppet, will remain on Lake of the Isles on Saturday. It’s a “boots only” event this year, as walkers will hike around hundreds of luminaria, the Ice Pyramid, fire dancers, the Enchanted Forest, Ice-Cropolis, Ice-Henge and Ice-ster Island. Participants must register for the event and receive an official Luminary Loppet glow stick. The REI Luminary Party afterward is free for registered Luminary Loppet participants and $10 for everyone else. The Loppet festival is Friday-Sunday. More info at loppet.org.
Living Banners and Words for Winter — A poetry-inspired art installation by Piotr Szyhalski will “wrap” the Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis between 12th and Fifth streets, along with short poems about winter by local writers displayed on electronic road construction signs. The word-laden works will kick off with a recorded sound and light show in Peavey Plaza with four showings throughout the evening of Jan. 30. Living Banners will be on the Mall from Jan. 30 to Feb. 5.
ART SHANTY PROJECT
Those crazed-looking ice fishing houses on White Bear Lake in February are actually sheltering art experiences. The Art Shanty Project, in its third year on White Bear Lake, is a chance to interact with artists in a non-gallery environment. Some of this year’s shanties include a Chef Shanty, a Dance Shanty and an Air Hockey On Ice Shanty. On the more “unusual” side is the Slumber Party Shanty where “Visitors enter the shanty through a secret passage and make their way through the dark corners under the bed” before going upstairs to the slumber party. Or the I-C SPArkle-matic: “Like a human carwash, the I-C-SPArkle-Matic is a long enclosure with found objects that prod and poke the visitor as they make their way through the shanty.” Open Saturdays and Sundays in February. For info: artshantyprojects.org.
ICE CASTLES
Icicles, caves, tunnels, slides and towering walls that look like they froze as they boiled. The Ice Castle in Lowell Park in Stillwater is cool. Fans of Disney’s “Frozen” will feel the Anna and Elsa vibe. The castle is open Fridays through Sundays. The entrance fee is $6.95 to $8.95 for children under 12, and $9.95 to $12.95 for adults, depending on day and time. Tickets can be purchased in advance at icecastles.com.
WINTER LIGHT
Internationally acclaimed artist Bruce Munro has installed five outdoor and two indoor pieces inspired by light at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. His collection, titled “Light and Language,” illuminates the night with its soft glow, light animation and sounds. In one, 28 towers made of recycled plastic water-filled bottles with lights, set to music, slowly undulate. Another is formed from 19 lamp posts, which branch out like a giant seed head from a central core. 5-10 p.m. Thursday-Sunday, through April 9; Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, 3675 Arboretum Drive, Chaska; 952-443-1400; arboretum.umn.edu.
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