The Fire and Ice Festival returns to St. Albert this Family Day, weather permitting. It's something the St. Albert Firefighters Local 2130 looks forward to putting on, with the 2025 instalment seeing the return of a few events from previous years.
Connor Dell is a member of the organizing committee for Local 2130. He has been helping organize the Fire and Ice Festival for a couple of years, and looks forward to the event as a fun way to connect with the community.
"Just kind of a way for us to get out in the community and interact with people, and they can interact with us and enjoy a good day," Dell said, adding as long as the weather holds, it's usually a fun time. The event will not proceed in temperatures at or below -25 C, or when the wind chill reaches -30.
The Fire and Ice Festival is a yearly event in Lacombe Lake Park, where families can gather and watch a multitude of events, including fire dancing, an ice sculpture carving. Dell is looking forward to some events that have been cut back in previous years making a return.
"We're excited that we're actually going to be able to have two fire dancing performances this year, which is nice because we've had to cut those back in previous years due to cost," he said. The 15-minute shows are scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
"Not having really any fire in the Fire and Ice Festival besides the fire trucks for a couple years has been kind of a letdown. So, we're glad to have it back because that was kind of a big part of it earlier on," he said.
Not to forget about the ice part of the festival, Barry Collier will be making a return as an ice carver. In previous years he has carved the snowman from the movie Frozen, and an ice dragon, Dell said. He's excited to see what Collier does this year.
"I'll be pretty busy the day of but I always like to check it out," he said. "Appreciate whatever it is he pulls out of the hat."
Dell said the festival is also bringing back frozen maple syrup sticks, working with the French Canadian Association of Alberta, where they pour hot maple syrup onto a counter of snow and roll it onto a stick.
"It'll be a nice little treat for everyone," Dell said, noting it's an activity the kids love. "Any time you get sugar on a stick, I think that's a big hit."
There will be a petting zoo, sleigh rides, food and hot chocolate provided by Save-On-Foods and Tim Hortons, and crafts from Home Depot for children and families to make. They'll also have operational crews and the fire trucks available for families to take a tour in. Dell said the firefighters look forward to having the kids check out the apparatus.
"The reality is that we're all just kids who liked fire trucks growing up too," he said. "We get to kind of nerd out and hang out with them. It's always exciting when you see the kids interested in the things that you like and you enjoy and you get to share that with them."
Dell is excited to see the event come to fruition, and to experience it with his daughter.
"Last year was the first year she got to come," he said, adding it's nice for him to spend time with his family and have them come and enjoy the event.
Dell said the interaction with the community is what makes this event special to him and the firefighters.
"We enjoy it because we're all very well-supported and everything by our community. And it's a really small thing we can do to kind of give back," he said. "We work for them. You know, it's their trucks, their stations. Any time we can interact with people like that we really enjoy it."
The event itself is free, but Dell said they would accept donations for their annual Muscular Dystrophy Rooftop Campaign, which begins officially in March.
The Family Day event will be held on Feb. 17 from noon to 4 p.m. As there's no parking at Lacombe Lake Park, there is a free park and ride every 10 minutes from Bellerose Composite High School starting at 11:50 a.m. The last bus will leave Lacombe Lake Park at 4:20 p.m.
For information on the event, visit the website https://stalbert.ca/exp/fire-and-ice/.
