Basic HTML Version
Plymouth Ice Festival
Page 11
under Graper, said his former boss
was dedicated to the ice-carving event
fromthe beginning.
“The festival came along at a time
when there was a downturn in the
economy,” said Sincock, who credited
Graper with realizing the potential of
this event as not only an economic
engine, but also as fun way for the
community to gather.
“He's the guy that got things moving
and kept themmoving along,” Sincock
said.
In 1992, the spectacular faced a cri-
sis. Lorenz decided to step down as
organizer for the event during the
same time Graper's contract with the
city expired. With the festival coming
and its two leaders leaving, a local real
estate developer- along with members
of the Plymouth Community Chamber
of Commerce- stepped in.
“I was asked to help out with rais-
ing money,” said Jim Jabara, who
became more involved with the event
after then chamber president Pam
Kosteva teamed him up with Tom
Caviston to raise the necessary pro-
ceeds to keep the event afloat.
The team was able to generate
$140,000. Lorenz attributes Jabara and
his fellow fundraisers for keeping the
spectacular alive.
“It was almost lost,” saidLorenz.
Mike Watts headed the festival for
several years during some rough eco-
nomic times. The board was at the
point of retiring the event, Walton said,
due to the difficult economy in 2009,
when they asked Signature
Professional Group, a turn-key pro-
moter and producer of concerts and
event programming founded by
Walton, to take over.
“These are challenging times. It
makes it difficult to raisemoney, “ said
Lorenz , whomanaged thewinter festi-
val while the economy was in better
shape.
Walton agreed that it was a chal-
lenge, but after talking to a number of
merchants and residents, decided that
maybe a smaller, more home-town
event was better suited to the times.
“The one thing we heard from peo-
ple that was most consistent was that
maybe the festival had gotten too big
and wasn't a real community event
anymore,”Walton said.
That first year, he had a full staff of
volunteers working on every aspect of
the event, to try and provide a great
festival and still keep it grounded in
the original concept Lorenz had.
This year, Walton said, thanks to the
generosity of major sponsors, the
event is offering more attractions and
entertainment.
“It is going to be a great festival,”
Walton said. “We have some terrific
things planned and I think we'll have
something for everybody.”
Ice and snow sculptures like these done in Sapparro, Japan 30 years ago were
one of the inspirations for the very first Plymouth Ice Festival.