43rd Plymouth Ice Festival will begin tomorrow

    When the original organizers of the Plymouth Ice Spectacular” first suggested the event more than 40 years ago, it is doubtful they anticipated the success the event enjoys today.
    The 43rd Plymouth Ice Festival officially begins tomorrow throughout the downtown area and is expected to bring as many as 100,000 visitors into the community during the three-day event, according to organizers of the event.

    Depending on who is telling the story, the history of the “spectacular” as it was first called, includes the names of many public officials and familiar names associated with the development and growth of the community. All accounts agree, however, that it did begin about 43 years ago. It was in 1982, according to most versions of the tale, when local businessman Scott Lorenz proposed the idea of an annual winter celebration in Kellogg Park after watching a feature story on 60 Minutes about a snow and ice festival in Sapporo, Japan.
    Lorenz told his fellow business owners that the segment showed thousands of people from throughout Japan flock into Sapporo to view the giant images of buildings, cartoon characters and assorted subject carved from ice and snow. In an interview several years ago, Lorenz said he was confident the event would bring business to downtown Plymouth.
    “If they could do this Sapporo, I knew we could do this in Plymouth,” Lorenz said during that interview several years ago. He said he wanted to create an event to bring commerce to downtown merchants and restaurants during the slow retail period after the holidays.
    His efforts have obviously proven successful in the past four decades as the event is now rated as one of the top winter events in the state by some tourist bureaus. The crowds have recently reached an estimated 100,000 people coming to view the artistry of the carvers and enjoy the family activities during the three-day event.
    Lorenz said the purpose of the event was to bring the community a unique event while providing local retailers and restaurant owners a “much needed shot in the arm” during the slow months in sales after the holidays.
    During his tenure managing and organizing the “Ice Spectacular” as it was originally called, Lorenz made several trips to Japan and Canada to recruit artists and teachers to participate in the ice carving exhibition. He also negotiated agreements that continue to exist today, including a relationship with local culinary colleges to have students exhibit during the show.
    Lorenz, however, said there are many other people who deserve recognition for the continued growth and longevity of the event. He said after his epiphany about having an ice festival in the city, he tried to recruit volunteers and sponsors for the event. He said the first two men he talked with about his idea were his father, Ralph, who at that time owned the former Mayflower Hotel and Hank Graper, the city manager at the time.
    While the elder Lorenz thought his son’s idea was “crazy,” Graper talked to downtown businesses and secured $1,000 in early donations. With that money and “lots of walking and talking,” the duo hosted the first ice festival 45-days after Lorenz saw the 60 Minutes feature.
    With Lorenz as the leader of the event and Graper working behind the scenes, the script for success lasted for more than 10 years.

    Current City Manager Paul Sincock, who worked as assistant manager under Graper, said his former boss was dedicated to the ice-carving event from the beginning.
    “The festival came along at a time when there was a downturn in the economy,” said Sincock, during that previous interview. He credited Graper with realizing the potential of this event as not only an economic engine, but also as an entertaining event which would bring the community together.
    “He’s the guy that got things moving and kept them moving along,” Sincock said.
    In 1992, the spectacular event faced a crisis when Lorenz decided to step down as organizer for the event during the same time Graper’s contract with the city expired. With the festival dates set and the two leaders leaving, a local real estate developer- along with members of the Plymouth Community Chamber of Commerce- stepped in.
    “I was asked to help out with raising money,” said the late Jim Jabara, a former city mayor who became more involved with the event after then chamber President Pam Kosteva teamed him up with Tom Caviston to raise the necessary proceeds to keep the event afloat. The team was able to generate $140,000 and Lorenz credits Jabara and his fellow fundraisers for keeping the ice festival alive during that perilous time.
    Management of the event was then entrusted to Mike Watts of WattsUp who organized the ice festival for several years and guided the community event through some difficult economic times. In 2009, the ice festival was nearly retired due to the difficult economy, when the decision was made to hire Sam Walton of Signature Professional Group to manage the event. Walton began a recovery effort and when he moved on, James Gietzen of JAG entertainment took the helm of the event.
    Gietzen rejuvenated the event adding more family and participant events while expanding the number of carvings on display and the number of artisans who demonstrate their skills during the famous ice-carving competitions and several other features which have become traditions at the festival.
    The ice festival, thanks to major community sponsors, continues to be free and open to the public and with 100,000 visitors expected this year, has regained the enormous popularity that Lorenz once envisioned as he watched 60 Minutes more than four decades ago.