Jack Frost Children's Winterfest sculptors preparing snowy masterpieces

Winter seems to have fully arrived on P.E.I., and that's welcome news for the organizers of the Jack Frost Children's Winterfest.

Snow and ice sculptors started digging in Monday with chainsaws, picks and other hardware to prepare the slides, igloos and sculptures for the popular festival to be held again at the Charlottetown Event Grounds.

The temperature and conditions on the Island are just right, said B.C. sculptor Peter Vogelaar, who has been working his way across Canada at various outdoor events.

"We've been fighting rain and plus-five in some places. I even had no snow at all in Kingston last week, so this is really good," said Vogelaar. "It's all coming together really well."

The ideal temperature for building is between 5 C and 10 C, he said.

"It's not too cold to keep on working and also not too warm in terms of anything breaking down. Also we get wet when it's above zero. And we don't like that so much."

Vogelaar isn't too worried about another potential bout of mild weather between now and the opening of the three-day festival on Feb. 19.

The snow created with the snow machine is very strong and wet, so it's frozen hard, he explained.

"A few days above zero won't hurt it."

But with temperature highs forecast at 3 C and lows in the 14 C to 16 C range over the next few days, the crew of seven sculptors and six technical personnel will be working hard to complete the structures by the weekend, he said.

Hosted by the Hotel Association of P.E.I., the event's theme this year is dinosaurs and dragons.

The sculptors will be working right up to opening day, said Vogelaar.