The 1960's
These Winter Carnival ice-carving champs have been around the block - for 28 years
Longtime friends skills use skills from culinary school to create award-winning ice sculptures.
Buddy chefs Terry Reis and Rob Graham have been chiseling, sanding and chainsaw-hacking ice sculptures for the 48-hour St. Paul Winter Carnival ice-carving competition longer than most can remember.
OK, it's been 28 years.
But that's still a long time, and they're both feeling like what they are — the senior sculptors of one of the Winter Carnival's most celebrated contests.
"He's 80," said Reis, 53, describing Graham, who is 56.
The two picked up their ice-carving training in culinary school and have been winning contests ever since, though it's been a few years since they notched the top Winter Carnival prize.
"The young kids are coming up," quipped Reis, motioning to the five competing carving teams at St. Paul's Rice Park on Thursday. "Us old guys can't roll anymore. ... I have to sleep, because the doctor tells me. And I get crabby."
For the carnival's 125th anniversary celebration, the pair are sculpting a grandfather clock surrounded by giant Winter Carnival buttons dating back to 1899.
The annual contest got under way at 9 a.m. Thursday and closes at 9 a.m. Saturday. Sculptors are expected to carve 20 blocks of ice into a Winter Carnival-themed exhibit, and will be judged on design and execution.
"You don't get any additional ice if you break something," said Graham, who teaches culinary skills at Hennepin Technical College in Eden Prairie.
Reis, who is originally from the Twin Cities, owns two restaurants in Mediapolis, Iowa.
First-place ice-carvers will receive $2,000, with lesser prizes awarded for second and third place. There's also a $250 public's choice award and a $250 carver's choice award. Weather permitting, the sculptures will be on display until Feb. 6.
A one-day carving competition featuring single blocks of ice takes place Sunday. For more information, go to winter-carnival.com.
Frederick Melo can be reached at 651-228-2172.
Copyright 2011 Pioneer Press
| Year | General Location | Pinpointed location | How it was concealed | |
| 1950s | 1970s | |||
| 1969 | Interstae 35E at Victoria Street | On the bridge of the then-future highway intersection | Frozen rocks | |
| 1968 | Highland Park | Near three oak trees up the hill from the intersection of Lexington Pkwy, Montreal Ave., and W. 7th, St. | A piece of plasterboard | |
| 1967 | Minnesota State Fairgrounds | Between the Judging Arena and the KTCA booth | A horseshoe | |
| 1966 | Harriet Island park | Between the baseball ddiamonds | An old-fashioned clothes iron | |
| 1965 | Como Park | 100 paces east of the Larry Ho plaque | A block of printer's lead | |
| 1964 | Beaver Lake Park | Near the intersection of Edgewater Blvd. and Geranium Avenue | A gold colored brick | |
| 1963 | Between Farrington and Louis Sts. and Rondo and Carroll Aves. | On the ground near a hollow stump | Loosly tossed in the snow | |
| 1962 | Mississippi River Freeway | Near a survey marker for the soon-to-be Interstate 35E | Hard-packed snow | |
| 1961 | Highland Park | Near the ballfields at Montreal and Edgecumbe | A clump of grass | |
| 1960 | Harriet Island Park | In the woods in the west end of the park | In the heel of a boot | |
| 1950s | 1970s | |||
