A town made of ice has gone up in a public garden behind the building of the oblast state administration. Its main characters are heroes of fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen: the Snow Queen, Thumbelina, the Little Mermaid, and others. Two “fruit” branches and an ice labyrinth have been set for children’s entertainment.
The residents of Cherkasy watched seven sculptors cut fine sculptures out of ice blocks for three days. They gave a Ukrainian color to mythical aunties, for example, Melpomene, the Muse of tragedy, has a paste roller on her back, according to the design of the Lviv-based sculptor Andrii Datsko. Terpsichore, the Muse of dance and choral singing, appears as a big-bosomed woman conducting a male choir as created by Mykola Telizhenko, a native of Cherkasy. He ironed the head of his Muse so that snow would fall there. By the way, sculptors used electric saws, axes, and even fans to work with the ice.
The organizers of the festival say that the ice figures exhibit will last for a month until the sculptures melt. Actually, the Snow Queen and Father Frost have already considerably “thinned” because of the hot hugs of Cherkasy residents who are arranging photo sessions near the sculptures. A heart-shaped carriage has been stripped of its wheels and a couple of figures have been reduced to pieces of ice.
