Fire, Ice and Everything Nice

Elkhart County Ice Sculptor Sammy Moore Returns for Goshen’s Fire and Ice Festival

“I’ve been able to travel a lot the past two or three years, doing my ice sculptures at shows, events, and different jobs, and it’s been amazing,” said Samantha ‘Sammy’ Moore, owner of Moore Ice Sculptures and one of the ice sculptors at the 2024 January First Fridays Fire and Ice Festival in downtown Goshen.

“I’m from Elkhart County. I went to NorthWood High School and Ivy Tech—I used to be a chef for Goshen Health and now I’m a plant operations coordinator. I think Elkhart County is unique; there are still so many tight-knit communities, and this area will always feel like second nature to me. But it’s a lot of fun but to go and see other places; you really have to branch out to stay active and busy in ice sculpting.

I sometimes take my German Shepard, Maverick, with me on the road and it’s just a lot of fun. I traveled to Fairbanks, Alaska in 2020 and in 2022 for an international ice sculpting competition, and in 2022 my team won the bronze medal. That was a really cool highlight. I’ve also enjoyed going to Texas several times; I have mentors down there and it’s where I’ve learned a lot of what I know about ice sculpting.

Bringing it back home, connecting in real-time

I’ve participated in the Fire and Ice Festival several times before, and it’s always special being able to sculpt in Downtown Goshen. This is one of my most ‘local’ events, and it’s really great to have friends and family be able to come out and see what I do. I get a lot of support from them online, but I do so much of my work out of the area that they rarely get to see me sculpting in real-time. The Fire and Ice Festival always feels sort of like a homecoming; it’s so nice to be in my element while being supported by friends and family, and my employer Goshen Health has been so supportive of my sculpting.

The Fire and Ice Festival also happens to be, in my opinion, one of the most well-organized events like this—I wish they could all be that way. There are always a lot of moving parts at an outdoor event with multiple sculptors, and (Director of First Fridays) Amanda (McMahon) does such a great job keeping everything running smoothly. I love working with Amanda, and the event is just a lot of fun. It’s family-friendly, but also really exciting. To have the fire dancers doing their thing, and so many people enjoying themselves; it’s just a great scene.

Finding her way as an ice sculptor

I got into ice sculpting about five or six years ago. I was with some of my friends from the culinary field at a summertime event; they had an ice sculpting demonstration and I just felt like I was immediately hooked. A friend of mine named Greg Beachey, who now lives in Colorado, encouraged me to try it and told me I should attend a winter festival. When I was at that winter festival I had such a great time and met so many great people; I ended up being gifted a lot of old tools from sculptors I met there. That event was when I first started building up my arsenal of tools so I could really get started.

Chainsaws, die grinders, and angle grinders are some of the main tools ice sculptors will use, and most will have an assortment of specialty bits that can go on the die grinders. My favorite subjects to sculpt are animals. It’s difficult to sculpt animals; there are so many details. My approach with a sculpture is usually to carve out the rough shape, then go in and start working on making it 3D. One thing I’ve learned is that it’s always good to try and do as much of the work as you can with one tool. It’s best to avoid having to go back and forth constantly with a lot of different tools.

Creativity is the connection

There’s an ‘old school’ connection between the culinary world and ice sculpting. It used to be fairly common for chefs to be called on for elaborate presentations—for, say, country club or hotel banquets. That’s not as common now; these days people mainly get into ice sculpting because they’ve seen it being done somewhere. Still, you tend to see a lot of ice carvers with a culinary or artistic background. I think creativity is the link. Whether you’re a chef in a kitchen, or a ceramic artist in a studio, or an ice sculptor holding a chainsaw out in the cold—the goal is to try and delight people with your own, individual creativity and style.

I just love everything about ice sculpting. I’m glad and thankful I get a chance to do this in the first place, and—every year, when the Fire and Ice Festival rolls around—I’m even happier to be in Elkhart County and making my sculptures in front of family, friends, and supporters.”