Festival of ice sculptures opened in Cherkasy

The Festival of Ice Sculptures Kryzhtal opened in the city public garden behind the Ob­last Council building. The fes­ti­val is held for the fifth year in a row and every time the organizers choo­se a new theme. This year it is con­tinental soccer championship Euro-2012, which will be hosted by Uk­raine and Poland. Thus, Slavko and Slavek – the mascots of the future cup opened the festival and enter­tained Cher­kasy residents. They gave short speeches in Ukrai­nian and Polish.

Mascots and logos of European Championships of previous years were embo­died in ice sculptures. Ice soccer awards and Cups of the competitions of various levels are presented for soccer fans. The cha­racters of the popular cartoon “How Cossacks were playing soccer” are also here in ice. Now there are 30 sculptures installed and yet 15 more are promised to be finished soon. Shaping of the sculptures from ice will be done in front of visitors of the festival. Furthermore, all visitors will be able to participate in this process because the festival program includes a kind of inter­acti­ve workshops.

Apart from soccer related sculptures at Kryzhtal-2012 you may see the alleys of cartoons and alleys for lovers as well as a three-meter Eiffel Tower made of ice.

“We haven’t agreed on the official date of festival closing. The sculptures will be in the park until the weather is appropriate,” said Iryna TOPCHII, director of Department for Educa­tion and Humanitarian Po­li­cy of the Cherkasy City Council. According to her, the festival is held on sponso­red funds. This year nearly 200,000 hryvnias were spent on its organi­zation.