A winter tradition
A colourful, lit-up igloo has be- come a landmark in Hantsport to mark the beginning of the Hantsport Winter Carnival.
Paul Morton, organizer of the event, said approximately 100 people help make the igloo a pos- sibility.
“We couldn’t do it without the volunteers,” Morton said. “Especially these guys building it, because I have no idea how they curve it. If I built it, it would be a straight wall.”
This year, organizers rented an ice truck to help keep the frozen blocks cool.
Morton said a lot of residents have also brought in more discarded Christmas trees after the pile was partially burned by vandals, meaning the bon fire is still going ahead.
Scott Miller, head mason of the igloo project and bricklayer by trade, said the volunteers are starting to get the hang of things after building an igloo for several years in a row.
“We still need the weather, we still need the snow, and we still need the community to come together with the product and volunteering,” Miller said. “And they have.”
Miller says the process starts easily, but as it rises and gets more angled into a dome shape, it becomes more delicate.
And as they build the igloo from inside the structure, how do they get out?
“We’ve found that it’s easier, once it’s all built, to just put a little hole in the bottom and crawl out,” he said. “It’s kind of wet and cold.”
But for Miller, it’s all worth it.
“It brings the community together and it makes the kids excited,” he said.
How it’s made
Milk cartons are filled with water and food colouring, which gets shaken up for consistency, before being frozen in a freezer. The blocks are then extracted from the cartons and, using slushy snow as mortar, are packed into place to create the dome shape. Lights inside help to give the glowing effect at night.