There's a small-town Canadian business that been known to sell ice to Iceland - now that's cool!
Hensall, Ontario: Iceculture started almost as a lark more than 17 years ago when Julian and Ann Bayley began making ice punch bowls for weddings. But then, what started out as a hobby - snowballed. Today this family-owned small-town Ontario company, which sits in a big blue building on the main street of the tiny town of Hensall, is a world-leader is its industry.
The Batman, Mask of Zorro and the Titanic movie premier parties all had Iceculture sculptures. So did all three of the Lord of the Rings premiers, and several of the Obama inauguration parties. Along with creating unique ice carvings for weddings and special events (ice vases, glasses, food displays, bowls embedded with real flowers) the company creates, ships and sets up everything from crystal clear ice bars for to complete ice lounges, to challenging locations around the world, such as Las Vegas, Thailand, Sydney and Dubai. Iceculture was even hired to create precise ice projectiles for NASA, so they could blast them at space shuttle skin to test it.
When Al Gore was awarded the Nobel Prize Iceculture provided the ice component to a special display at the Oslo Museum. For another event at the Rockerfeller Centre in New York, a lane of Fifth Ave. had to be shut down to move the ice for an 8-ton bridge into position. That night Natalie Cole sang perched atop the sculpted bridge created from Lake Huron water. |
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It’s a business with unique challenges, such as constructing an ice disco in South Africa when it was 140 degrees, explained Julian Bayley. In another situation, his daughter Heidi, now General Manager, had to coordinate the construction of an ice lounge from a Dubai hotel room with a phone and camera, because as a woman she wasn’t able to supervise at the site.
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Like small crystal balls - ice balls melt slowly in a drink, so not to dilute. (left)
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You might see Iceculture’s work at a winter carnival such as Winterlude, or find yourself at one of their ice bars at the Ice Wine Festival in Niagara. Groups can arrange to tour through the Hensall facility and learn about the fascinating business (they are even outfitted in ‘Nine Below Zero’ parkas.) Eventually individuals will be able to visit, too. Watch the Iceculture website for information on when that becomes possible. |
Where: Hensall is in Huron County which is part of a tourism region known as Shakespeare to the Shoreline. Cool communities you could also visit in the region include: the beach village of Grand Bend (lots of family fun & Nat Geo said one of world's best sunsets), continuing north along Lake Huron the historic village of Bayfield (award-winning author Alice Munro 'one of the world's formost writers of fiction' lives nearby and sometimes can be spotted in The Village Bookshop) and then further north along the shore - Goderich, home of both the world's largest salt mine and one of the world's top Celtic Festivals (with Celtic College.) A short drive away is the village of Blyth known for its popular theatre festival - an incubator of Canadian talent and content.
Lucy Izon
Canada Cool is produced by award-winning Canadian travel writer & speaker Lucy Izon. Her travel stories & reports have appeared in numerous leading North American publications including the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, and Chicken Soup for the Traveler's Soul. Bio page
Canada’s Coolest:
Welcome to a new feature on Canada Cool. I'll be presenting different 'Coolest' lists with my favorites and I encourage you to nominate suggestions from your own experiences. You can Twitter @CanadaCool or email [email protected]. Let me know what makes your suggestion exceptionally cool. Remember, by contributing your comments you are giving Canada Cool permission to quote you. Only a selection of submissions will be included, but all comments and submissions are greatly appreciated!
The first feature is: Canada's Coolest Single Day Scenic Drives
Here are some of my favorites...
The Icefields Parkway, Jasper National Park, Alberta - This 229 km (142 mi) Rocky Mountain route from Banff/Lake Louise to Jasper passes 100 frozen rivers and nudges the base of the Athabasca Glacier - the most accessible glacier in the world. You can stop and explore it. It spills down from the Columbia Icefield, an area of ice so massive that you could fit the entire population of North America on it with each person getting at least a square metre of space.
The Corridor, Algonquin Park, Ontario – this 56-km stretch of Hwy 60 cuts through the southwest section of Algonquin Park. Less than three hours north of Toronto the park is a nature-lover's paradise with 7,725 km of lakes, rivers, forest, trails, camping, comfortable lodges and 2000 km of canoe routes. Offers hiking trails to stop and enjoy, but what makes it really cool is that it’s one of the best places in North America to spot moose (especially in May and June). And, on Thursday nights in August up to 600 cars will gather to listen to wolves howl.
The Cabot Trail, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia – Driving this 303 km (187 mile) route is like riding a roller-coaster: the road snakes around hairpin turns, rises to heights over 365 metres (1200 ft), weaves around headlands revealing spectacular coastal scenery, and plunges down to sea level taking you into the heart of small fishing communities. The most dramatic scenery is between the Cape Breton Highlands National Park entrance near Cheticamp and Pleasant Bay, so go slow. And, plan some flexibility into your schedule, so you can drive it on a clear day.
And here are some of your nominations for 'Canada's Coolest Single Day Scenic Drives'...
More from Canada’s Coolest
'Canada's Coolest' topics we'll be publishing in the future:
- Golf Course Features
- Haunted Hotels
- Hotel Special Services
Send your suggestions to [email protected]
Recent 'Canada's Coolest' topics:
