Watch Mesmerizing Live Ice Carving Demonstrations At NYC’s Coolest Winter Event

If we’re going to have to suffer through the coldest weather in two years, we might as well make the most of it–and this exciting event is a reason to grab your trusty puffer coat and come out of hibernation!

For the fourth year in a row, pro­fes­sion­al ice carv­ers will show off their ice carving skills at the fourth annual Governors Island Ice Sculpture Show, returning next month on Saturday, February 8th. The ice sculpting competition gives New Yorkers and visitors alike the chance to be wowed by ice carving demonstrations in real time.

Ten finalists have been selected, each of which will be paired with professional ice carvers from Okamoto Studio on the day of the event. Vis­i­tors are invit­ed to wit­ness the ice carv­ings from 12 to 2 pm and even cast their vote in the “People’s Choice” award for their favorite sculpture!

The 2025 Governors Island Ice Sculpture Show artists are as follows:

• Ana Añu – Añu’s ecopo­et­ic sculp­ture that reflects the impor­tance of ani­mism in cli­mate sto­ry­telling
• Eli­jah Chavez – Chavez’s sculpture will depict an anatom­i­cal human heart while serv­ing as a com­mu­ni­ty alter inspired by the the Day of the Dead
• Jake DeMar­ti­ni – DeMartini’s ​sculpture hon­ors the tit­u­lar object’s min­i­mal design and engi­neer­ing along­side Gov­er­nors Island’s nau­ti­cal history
• Shawn Hill – Hill’s sculpture will depict a species of bird com­mon­ly seen on Gov­er­nors Island
• Aharon Levy – Levy’s​ sculpture will explore the ten­sion between nature and urban envi­ron­ments
• Agusti­na Markez – Markez will explore the star as a sym­bol both in the con­text of nature and pop cul­ture
• Josef Pin­lac – Pin­lac will cel­e­brate pol­li­na­tors, incor­po­rat­ing hon­ey­comb designs and hon­or­ing the Island’s bee population
• Sonya Sobies­ki – Sobieski’s​ sculpture will depict an over­sized pair of binoc­u­lars with birds com­mon­ly seen on Governors Island
• Kate­ri­na Sokolovskaya – Sokolovskaya will explore how peo­ple coex­ist with their sur­round­ings
• Mai Sone – Sone will sculpt a squir­rel eat­ing Gov­er­nors Island

Beyond the actual competition, the event will also include ice carv­ing work­shops from Okamo­to Stu­dio, crafts from Red Hook Art Project, live music from dis­­­co-infused Afro­fu­tur­ist funk duo The Illus­tri­ous Blacks, and a spe­cial per­for­mance by NYC-based all-women, trans, and non-bina­ry drum­line Fogo Azul.

And if you get hungry, Mak­i­na Café (one of our favorite spots in the city for Ethiopian food) will be open in Colonels Row along­side addi­tion­al food trucks Nao Caribbean Fla­vors, The Orig­i­nal Soup­man, and Deploy Cof­fee, curat­ed by Four Wheel Feasts.

This one-of-a-kind event is too cool to miss, and it’s free and open to all, no reg­is­tra­tion or tick­ets required, so be sure to add it onto your weekend calendar!

And as with any trip to Governors Island, we suggest enjoying all the breathtaking views of the city skyline you’ll see along the way!