The flame of the Olympic torch may have been extinguished in Sochi two weeks ago, but the rings are still under the spotlight in an International Falls man’s front yard.
Shaped out of ice by Mark LeBlanc, the five interlocking rings can be seen at his Third Avenue West residence — right behind the Northern Lights Motel.
“This was a perfect year to work with ice like this,” LeBlanc said. “Too perfect.”
The city of International Falls employee began making ice for the project shortly after the new year.
“I have about five trays I use to make sheets of ice,” he explained of the process. “I’m not sure how many hours I have into this project, but I know there is about 800 gallons of water.”
A brief period of warmer weather earlier in the winter put the project on hold, and then the cold spell hit.
“Then I was making ice like crazy,” he said. “I was emptying the trays almost daily...It got too cold to even work on the thing.”
LeBlanc said this winter marks the first since 2011 he has built something out of ice and was unsure of what to create. Originally, he thought he’d design a castle for a young family member undergoing treatments for cancer, but quickly realized his timeline was shrinking.
“There is so much detail that goes into castles and I was running out of time,” he said. “I was really stumped on what to do.”
After a phone call to his brother in Florida, LeBlanc’s sister-in-law reminded him this was a year for the Olympics.
Bingo.
He’d fashion a design matching the Olympic rings.
“The rings are made out of a mold,” he said. “I cut some rings out of a 55-gallon drum.”
The colors of LeBlanc’s rings match those on the actual symbol, but it took some experimenting, he said, to figure out how to make the color stick.
“I found out if I make the rings out of slush, the color hold really well,” he said. “When I was using water, it would just separate...The colors were really deep about a month ago, but because of the cold, they’ve really started to fade.”
Glitches along
the way
LeBlanc admits the seemingly-simple design has had its share of glitches.
As he was preparing to place the final ring, he said it slipped through his fingers and shattered on the ground.
Coincidentally, the ring LeBlanc broke with was the same one that malfunctioned during the opening ceremony in Sochi.
“I couldn’t believe I did that,” he said with a chuckle. “What are the odds it would be the same one?”
Ice experience
LeBlanc has been shaping different landmarks out of ice off and on since 1991.
“When my dad was in the hospital down in the cities, we’d go see the ice castles at the winter fair in St. Paul,” he said.
Inspired by the frozen figures, LeBlanc decided he could create something similar, just on a much smaller scale. So he said he built a “simple little church.”
“From there,” he added, “I’ve tried to do something a little different every year.”
Among the about 20 ice designs LeBlanc has created, he said he’s built the Emerald City, Elvis’ Graceland, Chapel of the Holy Cross, the White House, the Space Shuttle Columbia, the Eiffel Tower and a Disney princess castle.
He sent photos of his White House and Space Shuttle Columbia creations to respective officials and received responses on his work, he said.
“That is always pretty cool,” he said.
And he’s received positive feedback from the community, too.
“I see people drive by to look at what I’ve done,” he said. “It’s neat to have people appreciate them.”
Not done yet
Because the Olympics are over, LeBlanc said he plans to add to the design to recognize the Winter Paralympics that began Friday and run through the March 16.
“I think I’ll try to add mountains to the top with a wheelchair symbol,” he said. “If the weather cooperates, we’ll see if it turns out.”
