Tuesday, January 11, 2022

SATURDAY - January 15th - Winter Festivals

A winter festival, winter carnival, snow festival, or frost fair is an outdoor cold weather celebration that occurs in wintertime. Winter festivals are popular in D climates where winter is particularly long or severe, such as Siberia, Scandinavia, Canada and the northern United States. Most winter carnivals involve traditional winter pursuits such as dog sledding, ice hockey, ice carving, skating, skiing, and snow carving. (Wikipedia)

Slip into something warm and gather your art supplies as we travel online throughout North America and the world exploring and sketching historic winter festivals. Glistening sculptures, twinkly lights, ice bowling, dogsled racing and the polar plunges are just a few of the arctic festivities. Many winter festivals are attributed to the Vikings. As great travelers, they shared their customs and seasonal celebrations throughout the world. But several festivals in North America simply began with fur trappers coming town for the winter for auctions. Snow and freezing temperatures were ver y isolating, so to bring the community together and lift spirits towns began adding winter activities. 

The City of Montreal has hosted the oldest winter celebration in North America since 1883. The St. Paul Winter Carnival is the oldest winter festival in the United States. Since 1886, the St. Paul celebration has showcased the beauty of Minnesota winters. The St. Paul event was launched when a smallpox epidemic in Montreal lured an ice sculptor to Minnesota to create the first ice castle in the United States. 

There are no fees. All skill levels are welcome

Registration is required. Please register at the Eventbrite link below:

Winter Festivals Free Sketch Event Tickets, Sat, Jan 15, 2022, at 10:00 AM | Eventbrite

Photographic references for this virtual event are provided below:

https://61c7b227c38a0.site123.me/ 


Future Events

January 22nd - Fairbanks and Denali

January 29th - Trains and Railroads

NYC Urban Sketchers is a 501(c)(3) not for profit organization. Donations by check to NYC Urban Sketchers may be sent to: 

NYC Urban Sketchers

P.O. Box 1083

James A. Farley Post Office

New York, NY 10116