Hundreds got a chance to see the Guinness World Record setting tallest ice sculpture at the opening of the ICE 8,000-square-foot outdoor skating rink in Downtown Santa Monica.
The Scrat Ice Sculpture was 48 feet tall and was made by using 133,00 pounds of ice obtained from four different states. Artists from Blue Sky Studios created the concept, and a team of 14 sculptors from ICE Bulb LLC built the sculpture.
Construction of the sculpture took four days and presented unique challenges to its sculptor team because of the warm weather in Downtown Santa Monica. Danny L. Girton Jr. from the Guinness World Records oversaw the world record attempt and presented a certificate in honor of the achievement. The tallest ice sculpture ever constructed had been 40.28 feet and was achieved by Michel Amann of France in Ski Dubai, United Arab Emirates on April 20, 2006.
Scrat is a character in Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment’s (TCFHE) Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. This record setting event helped celebrate the release of Ice Age on DVD and Blu-ray disc. Mary Daily, Executive VP of Marketing for TCFHE, told the Mirror that, “this was a fantastic way to launch the sale of the movie on DVD.” She also mentioned that a lot of research was done in order to find a suitable ice sculpture team for the project.
This is the third year that the ICE skating rink has been part of Downtown Santa Monica’s Winterlit holiday events. In an interview with the Mirror, Council member Kevin McKeown said he was “happy to see ICE back in Downtown Santa Monica because it is being powered by renewable energy.” Renewable energy was also used last year.
Those in attendance got to see world figure skating champion, Randy Gardner, and members of California Gold skate to the “Walk the Dinosaur” song featured in Ice Age as well as a skater dressed up as Scrat.
ICE will remain open until January 31, 2010 at 5th Street and Arizona Avenue. From Sunday through Thursday it will be open from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. and on Friday, Saturday it will be open from 10 a.m. until midnight. Admission is $10 and includes rental skates. Ice skating lessons are available at an additional cost. More information about Winterlit events can be found at www.winterlit.com.