Sponsored once more by Air Canada, this huge event takes place during Yukon Sourdough International Festival. This feature event takes place at the Air Canada Snow Pavilion on the Whitehorse waterfront at Shipyards Park. Carvers work during the day and night creating 9 beautiful large sculptures of Snow. At the end of four days the visitors to "Rendezvous" choose their favourite piece and prizes are awarded by the Mayor of Whitehorse and Air Canada Representative Lisa Murano. A special nugget of gold is also awarded by Skookum asphalt. Visit our sponsor page to see who also supports this event.
How the Challenge started:
The Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous Festival has been a mainstay of Yukon social and cultural life for many years. Started as a way to release cabin fever, and to give us all something to look forward to during those long winter nights, "Rendezvous" has proved to be the most fun you can have at anytime of the year and any place in the World. The snow and cold temperatures only make it more fun and exciting!
In the third week of February Whitehorse is taken over by "Rendezvous" fever. Businesses decorate their foyers, their staff dress in period costume (circa Klondike Goldrush 1898), and there are parades, dog sled races, can-can dancers and much more!
In 2004 we saw the inaugural event of the Snow Sculpture Challenge. Sponsored by ZIP Airlines, seven teams competed for the Challenge. Large sculptures as diverse as a huge Trojan horse to an aquarium full of tropical fish took shape in the four days of sculpting. Crowds of visitors went through the "Snow Pavilion" and many voted on the last Sunday of "Rendezvous" to choose their favourites.
In 2005, Air Canada became the new sponsor and they brought the Canadian Teams to compete with a team from Alaska and a team from Japan. This challenge is an International event again!
2010 Schedule:
The Air Canada International Snow Sculpture Challenge starts on the 24th of Feb. when the teams fly in just in time to attend the Rendezvous Civic Dinner with Mayor Buckway and an array of other dignitaries. At this event each team is introduced and the draw takes place for the blocks of snow. Then it's all hands to the snow shovels as carving begins. Each team is given until Sunday at 10am to complete their sculptures and if they wish they can work around the clock. Judging by the public, on site from 10am to 1pm, with prizes awarded at 2pm in front of the sculptures.
There's no theme but there are lots of ideas for different sculptures. It's all fun with sculptors attending lots of the Rendezvous events when they're not too busy, or just need a rest.
Watch for the sculptors, they're all wearing Air Canada Red Toques!
Community Support
The Air Canada Snow Sculpture Challenge has been blessed with an outpouring of Community support. Sponsorship for this program has been entirely philanthropic - the sponsors provided their full support so that the beautiful snow sculptures could be enjoyed by the community of Whitehorse and to help make our Winter Festival "Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous" even more attractive to the visitor.
Each year many of the same sponsors have contributed their unqualified support:
Air Canada has provided the tickets to fly our snow carvers in and out of Whitehorse.
The Westmark Whitehorse has provided an excellent celebratory Sunday lunch to the carvers, for the end of the snow carve and before the carvers receive their medals.
Sam'n'Andy's Mexican Restaurant provides a superb dinner on our Saturday night of the Snow Carve. The hot food helps to heat up the carvers and keeps them warm to return to sculpt through the night.
Yukon Brewing Company! Yes, a big favourite with this many carvers on site. Yukon Brewing offers a brewery tour with tasting and pizza! Yahoo!
And talking of Pizza - Boston Pizza have given the Carvers a Pizza party each year. With the new move to Shipyards Park its hard to keep the carvers away!
Tim Hortons and McDonalds came on board in 2008, and Baked Cafˇ and the Java Connection followed in 2009 and with young people from the Sundog Carvers plus our 30 Internationally renowned carvers we needed them . It was perfect to be able to send out for McDonalds or run across to Tim Hortons to warm the cold hands around a soup or a sandwich.
If you're visiting during "Rendezvous" remember to thank our sponsors with your business and let them know you're recognizing their support of the "Air Canada Snow Sculpture Challenge". Kindness is catching!
And if you catch the Sculptors at any of their sponsored events please introduce yourselves and visit. They're very happy to meet everyone!
