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VIDEO: Langley ice creators slide into Vernon Winter Carnival

An ice castle, ice bar and ice slide will be part of the fun and frolick at the Vernon Winter Carnival Winter Playground

Talk about a guy who has fun with the cold.

Harold Sawatzky, of Langley, is the owner-operator of Ice Decor.

Sawatzky – no relation to former Vernon Mayor Rob Sawatzky (“Not that I know of,” he laughed) – and his company have been tasked with helping to build three different sites for the Vernon Winter Carnival’s Winter Playground at the Vernon Army Camp.

“One’s in the igloo and will have some ice bars for the adults along with some furniture,” said Sawatzky Thursday morning, decked out in his winter finery – toque, winter jacket, snow pants. “The castle here (behind me) has a throne in it for kids to sit on, and over yonder we have an ice slide.”

Ice slide?

“A piece of greased lightning for kids to slide down on their slippy slides or toboggans,” said Sawatzky, as he watched Ice Decor employees Isaac and Sergei Woewoda, along with Vernon volunteer and Winter Carnival ice sculpture competitor Tyler Welfing, work on the slide. “It’ll be about 30 feet long and will be a lot of fun.”

Fun – Snow Much Fun as per the Carnival motto for 2022 – will be had as the 62nd annual Vernon Winter Carnival kicked off Friday, Feb. 4.

And the Winter Playground at the army camp will be a big part of it.

“We will also have snowshoeing, and some fat bikes up here so people can rip around on those,” said Carnival executive director Vicki Proulx. “We’ll have some games including a giant, human-sized foosball court or table, if you will, where you can challenge others to a large game of foosball.

“And on the other side (of camp road), we have the adult ice bar, three different ice bars set up. There will be live entertainment, some games and some ice carvings in there as well.”

The Winter Playground will run all 10 days of carnival. For more information on the park and other carnival activities, check out https://vernonwintercarnival.com/events.

READ MORE: Vernon Winter Carnival ready to glow

READ MORE: Vernon firefighters dive into ice training



roger@vernonmorningstar.com

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Harold Sawatzky of Langley created three large ice attractions, including a 30-foot slide, for the Vernon Winter Carnival. (Vernon Morning Star screen capture)


Roger Knox

About the Author: Roger Knox

I am a journalist with more than 30 years of experience in the industry. I started my career in radio and have spent the last 21 years working with Black Press Media.
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