We took some vacation time this past week to go to the Snow Festival in Sapporo. This city of two million is located on the most northern Japanese island of Hokkaido; where the 1972 Winter Olympics were held. Sapporo receives a snow fall of over 250 inches a year, over 20 feet, and they feel "blessed by the snow". It not only boosts their economy through winter sports and tourism, but gives the island a bounty of clean water for the rest of the year. Each year the festival gains more international attention with competitors coming from around the world to demonstrate their sculpting talents. Once the week long event is over, snow removal equipment is used to remove the sculptures.

We were not disappointed with the creations nor the display of lights; it was a beautiful sight.

The size of the sculptures were amazing. Truck loads of snow are brought in and blown into holding forms. After the snow is packed, and frozen, the forms are removed and the work begins. Some of the snow displays were as large as a private home.

Downtown Sapporo is beautiful.

We hope to give you some perspective of the size and details involved.

What is a festival without food? The streets were lined with booths selling different types of foods. Most of the vendors were local civic organizations that were using the festival to raise money for their cause. We tried many different foods but the most tasty for Martin was the mutton sausage. The sausage is packed around a rib bone and then grilled. My favorite was grilled scallops on a stick. A close second for both of us was soup curry. We enjoyed that experience in a small, "mom and pop" restaurant that had been recommended by one of our Japanese friends.