If you or your families are looking for a way to shake those winter blues this weekend, The Loop Snow Ball on Friday, January 17 and Ice Carnival on Saturday, January 18 are the places to be. The Snow Ball is a fun night out for couples that includes food, live music, and a chance to dress up (elegant, silly, or maybe a bit of both, you decide). It will take place at the Moonrise Hotel (6177 Delmar, 314-721-1111, moonrisehotel.com) from 7–11 p.m. The carnival on Saturday offers snow slides, ice sculptures, human dogsled races, a putt-putt pub-crawl, and much more.
The coordinator of the event, local businessman, developer, and civic leader Joe Edwards took a few minutes out of his busy schedule to chat with SLM about the delightful weekend he has planned.
“I started the carnival nine years ago,” Edwards begins. “It’s been steadily building from day one, so much so that last year we had almost 10,000 people come out. This will be the fourth year for the Snow Ball, and it’s a really fun, great deal, because the tickets are only $30, and that includes two drink coupons, a very wide selection of wonderful hors d’oeuvres and small plates, live music by the Soulard Blues Band, and a photo booth. Then we also crown the Ice King and Ice Queen. Whoever wears their iciest, fun attire gets chosen, and then they’re crowned and get all sorts of prizes themselves. Some people put a lot of time and effort into their attire. It’s pretty marvelous to see.”
(There’s also a package available—$199 for two tickets to the ball, a room at the Moonrise Hotel, and breakfast in the morning—that allows guests to begin their fun at the Snow Ball and walk right out into the free carnival on Saturday morning.)
The Ice Carnival kicks off Saturday morning at 10 a.m. with the 5k and 10k Frozen Buns Run ($30; register here), which usually draws about 500 to 1,000 people, according to Edwards. He adds that throughout the rest of the day, there’s really something for everyone to enjoy, from the “penguins” walking around, to the face painting, stilt walkers, and ice breakers, where carnival-goers can test their strength with a sledge hammer.
Lining Delmar will be about 50 ice sculptures by Ice Visions, photo cutouts with different scenes and characters, and game booths. Every year, they have the $1,000 in ice cubes giveaway, with $1 coins literally frozen in ice cubes throughout participating stores, along with 9,000 chocolate coins and this year, they’re also going to do two-hundred-and-fifty “STL 250” chocolate coins to celebrate the 250th birthday of St. Louis.
“Children love the ice slides,” says Edwards. “We finally had to add a second one because the lines were so long, so now there are two right next to Blueberry Hill. And then there are the ever-exciting human dogsled races that take place in front of the Pageant at noon on Saturday, where sixteen teams of four dogs and one rider compete for amazing prizes and bragging rights.”
This year, they had hoped to do something particularly special. There were plans for The Red Bull Air Force Dive Team to skydive right onto Delmar on Saturday, but, unfortunately, they were unable to get permission from the Federal Aviation Administration in time. However, to properly kick off the event, Edwards has decided to make the dive instead this morning at 7:30. Though he has never skydived, and is a little worried by the freezing temperatures, he is still extremely excited to do something special (and incredibly daring!) for the event.
There will be several activities going on throughout the day, such as the temporary tattoo scavenger hunt, ice carving demonstrations, and a putt-putt pub-crawl.
“The putt-putt is a great couples event, and young family members enjoy it, too,” Edwards says. “There are some wild and crazy holes with spinning alien heads or ones made totally out of beer cans. The eleven places that participate really go to great lengths to have interesting putt-putt holes, inside or outside of their place. Some of them are even made of ice.”
For more information on the Snow Ball and Ice Carnival, visit visittheloop.com/about/events. To make reservations for the $199 Snow Ball overnight package, call 314-721-1111.
