Rice Park in St. Paul is now “ice park” for the St. Paul Winter Carnival.

Now through the weekend is the ice carving competitions where you can stop by and see some of their creations.

One of the teams described this weather as “an ice carvers dream.” Teams have 48 hours to transform 20 of the 300-pound blocks of ice into whatever they want as part of the ice carving competition for the St. Paul Winter Carnival.

“I do get residents who call and think I am Mother Nature but I am not,” said Lisa Jacobson, CEO/President of the St. Paul Festival and Heritage Foundation.

Jacobson is happy she doesn’t have to worry about the weather for a change. 

“Last year it was so warm we got through the ice carvings and snow carving, and then everything melted,” Jacobson said.

Tom Klug and his team remember the other extreme, and they sure don’t miss that. 

“A couple years ago we were carving in actual minus 40-degree air temp, that was definitely a challenge,” said Klug of Hastings.

Greg Schmotzer agrees anywhere between 20 and 32 degrees allows them to create their best work.

“This weather is perfect,” said Schmotzer, who is on a different team and is also from Hastings.

Before these frozen masterpieces come to life, you may suspect a couple of cold shoulders among competitors, but that’s not the case.

“I like the guys,” Schmotzer said. “They’re fun to be around.”

“There is money at stake here but at the end of the day, we’re all friends here,” Klug said.

The competition wraps up Saturday at 7 p.m., and you can see the finished designs at Rice Park throughout the St. Paul Winter Carnival.

For more information on all the different events during the St. Paul Winter Carnival, click here.