Hearts, flowers and ice may be in order during Valentines Day in Plymouth next year.
While the pandemic has apparently forced the cancellation of the Plymouth Ice Festival during January next year, organizer James Gietzen is looking at the possibility of a smaller, February event.
Gietzen, owner of JAG Entertainment, the producer of the Ice Festival and other festivals in the area, said that planning a smaller version of the event might be necessary if the pandemic forces the cancellation of the event next month. He said if the event were to be moved to February, he would need to ask the city for a special event permit by the end of January, but everything remains tenuous, due to the current health threat posed by the virus.
He said he has spoken with several individuals usually involved with the festival, who have been supportive of a move, but cautious.
He said the festival this year, whether in January or moved to February, would include about 50 or so smaller ice sculptures spread throughout the city, rather than the larger works usually installed in Kellogg Park. He said the event would need the help of financial sponsors to be viable this year and that social distancing and masks would probably still be required.
Typically, the Plymouth Ice Festival draws more than 50,000 people into town to view the large ice sculptures, the ice carving championships, the ski demonstrations and the dueling chain saw competition. Much of that might not happen with the smaller event, which Geitzen said would be promoted more as a local, community festival, rather than the regional attraction as in the past.
He said the ice festival was originally planned decades ago as a way to attract local visitors and shoppers to the downtown Plymouth area during the post-holiday weeks when businesses need customers and people are looking for some entertainment.
The reduced size of sculptures shouldn't be a problem for the artists who carve the ice, either, he said, as most of them have also been adversely affected by the pandemic and would welcome the work.
Geitzen said a decision on the event this year would be made as soon as possible, taking all factors, including the health of the anticipated crowds, into account.
