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Loveland Heats Up With Fire & Ice Festival

Voted Best Family Festival of The Year

By Melissa Shrader Editor Publisher Loveland Macaroni Kid February 4, 2018

Congratulations to People's choice awards winners: 

Fire Sculptures: 

Dave Mechtly from Musselph Industries "Perfect Heart" 

Ice Sculptures:  

Jade Windell and Larry #10


As you approach you hear the music and see the attractions. Frozen sculptures of all shapes and sizes, Metal sculptures on fire! Street performers mesmerizing you with slight of hand and hoola hoop tricks showing talent and flexibility. You’ve arrived!

The Fire & Ice Festival holds just the right balance of extremes. The whole family can find something to keep them engaged.

Parents can enjoy featured flavors and crafts from local breweries, distilleries, and wineries (my favorite). It will be easy for all adults in your party to find their favorite. Full drink or tasting available. Tokens are needed to partake, full details on the “Full & Half Tours” can be found here.  

Kids have a whole area to explore. Rainbows of lights and the whistle from the restored vintage trackless train guide you toward the Family Fair near AIMS. Then the clippity-clop of horse hooves from the carriage ride calls to you. That’s not all! Everyone can enjoy the NEW Virtual Reality Experience and a great game of Laser tag from Loveland Laser tag. Experience the one-of-a-kind, 3D Experience “One Sweet Ride”. There’s still more! Street performers will mesmerize you with slight of hand magic, hoola hoop agility and defy gravity with stilt walking. Characters will be roaming the fair, making kids and adults alike feel children. No fair or festival is complete without face painting! Pick and choose what excites you and pay as you go. No need to stand in line to get tickets. Carriage rides are free but tips are greatly appreciated and rides are for all ages from the young to the young at heart!

That alone seems wonderful but there is so much more to the Fire & Ice Festival. What you ask? Well Fire and Ice of course.

This year there are NEW, never seen before, fire sculptures created by local artists that will warm your hands and your heart and hopefully gain your vote! These new and exciting sculptures are incredible and unique. You will be able to cast your vote easily with the mobile app, for your favorite in with the People’s choice award.

If you enjoy the fire sculptures don’t miss out on the demonstrations and sharing of craft during scheduled demonstrations at the Fire Arts Demonstration Stage near Cactus Grill.

Not to be outdone, the Ice Sculptures offer not only an artistic touch, but the skill to keep the ice from cracking, and breaking as well as trying to prevent the sculptures from melting. The crystal-like beauty is often married with humor and drama which make it difficult to choose favorites in the People’s Choice award for Ice Sculptures. Don’t forget to check out your choice at night when the sculptures are illuminated to enhance their best features with rainbows of colors. Use the app to make it easy for you.

No festival is complete without music, Food, merchandise and more.

Fire & Ice has 4 stages, Main StageLincoln StageCleveland Stage, and Jefferson Stage offer local favorites creating the musical background to your festival fun.

FOOD! You have to try the food at the Food Trucks. From Funnellicious to Human Bean or Bigs Meat Wagon to Gunter’s Bavarian Grill there are over 14 trucks to fill your tummy. (Don’t forget the restaurants that line the streets as well.)

Our Family Favorite? We love to see the “Our Heroes Vehicle Showcase”. It’s a great combination to have the Service vehicles and the sculptures together. For us we love to see how the service vehicles have changed through time with the Veteran’s vehicles to today’s vehicles. It’s art and science managing to get all the tools and equipment onto the fire engines and other service vehicles in a way that makes sense as well as engineering how to get everything onto the trucks and engines that is needed.  Balancing personal life and service life is an art in itself as well.

This year there are some incredible additions to the festival.  Visit Loveland will be bringing the Giant Igloo will be lit up at night creating a spectacular display. The 1940’s renovated trackless train in the kid’s festival area is a wonderful addition creating something new and fresh just to mention a couple.  

Some specifics of the fair:

Visit the Website here to see all the attractions.

Plan your visit from hotel to parking here.

Stay connected to the festival, be able to vote and post your fun pics etc here.

OH YES! The fireworks! Each night there are fireworks! (Is your interest peaked yet?)