A guest post written by local mom, Alli, who attended the festival twice with her family who loved it so much!
Living in downtown Lititz has the wonderful privilege of being involved in the many events that this quaint small town to offer. On Friday, we were able to enjoy the very popular Fire and Ice Festival.
The sculptures started arriving on Thursday afternoon during record high warm temperatures. I was afraid they would all melt by Friday, but they were all in great shape and beautiful by Friday evening. On Friday morning, more sculptures arrived and one sculpture was even being carving as early as 11am that morning!
Our family decided to head downtown around 5pm on Friday evening. The traffic was picking up and there were only one or two parking spots along my street, which is about 4 blocks from the main drag. We were able to easily weave in and out of people with a double stroller, 8 children, and 2 adults!
There were food vendors offering free samples of popcorn (yes, please!), boy scouts handing out marshmallows to roast, and many vendors selling food.
There were ice sculptures galore! My favorite one was of the Olympic Rings, and the kids enjoyed sculptures of squirrels, hummingbirds, popcorn and film reels (Penn Cinema), and a huge Listerine bottle (Johnson and Johnson).
It seemed like everyone wanted to take pictures of every.single.sculpture so at times I felt like our kids were “in the way” of those wanting pictures. But the kids didn’t seem to notice, and we did our best to keep them moving along.
At the square in Lititz, a sculptor was carving a HUGE piece of ice and the kids got a great view of his craftsmanship! Every year we see this carving being done, so he must be there for a long portion of the evening. There was a huge stage and live music playing in the background… “Ice, Ice Baby!” And the kids all had fun laughing and dancing to it as we walked away!
As we made our way down to the park, the crowds began really picking up! It was getting harder to make sure all the kids were with us, so we decided it was time to head home. It was around 5:45pm at this point. We did stop long enough for the kids to all take a turn sitting on the “Giant Ice Chair” located at the entrance to the park!
As we were passing in front of Wilbur Chocolate, we saw the Whiff Roaster stand off to the side with an aroma of coffee that was hard to pass up. There was also a stand offering FREE hot chocolate, but the line was a little backed up, so we passed. If we didn’t have ten kids along with us, it would have definitely be worth waiting for!
Some friendly employees of Wilbur Chocolate flagged us down and asked if we were headed to see Princess Anna and Princess Elsa. We hadn’t planned to, but we had a few little girls with us who were eager to meet them, and there was no wait, so we headed over. I couldn’t believe there was no wait! Last year, the wait was at least an hour long! I guess we hit it right this year! The kids all posed for a picture with the princesses, and they all shared their names. Of course, the highlight was a huge piece of candy that they gave to each child on the way out!!
We were home by around 6:15pm, and it was the perfect amount of time for our young family as well as the children we were babysitting. There was A LOT happening by 5pm and still some parking available.
If you don’t have children or are using the evening as a date night, my advice would be to go early, park, eat at a local restaurant, and then walk around later in the evening when it’s darker and more romantic!
Day 2: Saturday
Since we had so much fun the night before, we decided to go again on Saturday morning. We left our house around 10:45am, and the downtown was already packed! When we passed by the parking lot on North Cedar across from the former BB&T bank, we could see it was already full.
Main Street and Broad Street were not closed to traffic like on Friday night, so we had to stay on the sidewalks this time. We had our double stroller along (I thought the roads were closed again), and it was a little tricky weaving in and out among the crowds on on the narrow sidewalks. I would recommend wearing your child or bringing a small, easy to maneuver stroller if you go on Saturday.
I needed to remind my children a few times to keep moving along and not to touch the sculptures, but overall they did really well even amidst the crowds of mostly adults. They loved seeing the sculptures a second time and we made sure to get some pictures with their favorite ones! My oldest (age 7) brought along her notepad and took notes of all the sculptures, and who they were sponsored by. I used her notes to help me write this post!
There wasn’t quite as much “action” as the night before–no free popcorn, marshmallows, or hot chocolate. No live music or entertainment or anyone carving the ice. However, the area where the food trucks was brimming with people ready for a tasty lunch or snack and sun felt warm and the atmosphere friendly.
Aside from the “ice” portion of the festival, many will enjoy the “fire” portion later in the day which includes a Chili Cook-Off at the Warwick Middle School. There was also a carnival for children being held at the High School throughout the day! We have never been to the Chili Cook-Off, but that will definitely be something fun to try next year.
The Festival, as usual, was a big hit!! The weather was nearly perfect and the crowds seemed to be as big as expected. It’s just something a little different on a cold February weekend to do with the kids. And the best part? It was completely FREE!
Did you know there are several fire & ice festivals in and around Lancaster County? Check them all out in our post on Lancaster County Ice Festivals.
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