Date Of Visit: February 8, 2025
Location: Salem, MA
Summary: 29 ice sculptures were scattered throughout the downtown area of Salem, MA.
Turtles, shrimp and even Snoopy were just a few of the things on display earlier this month in Salem MA! Those are just a few of the ice sculptures included in the 23rd annual Salem’s So Sweet event.
The weekend event, which kicked off with a fundraiser Friday, February 7, included 29 ice sculptures, many decorated storefronts and a few surprise guests!
The ice sculptures arrived by Saturday morning. But, they only light them up around 5 o’clock on Saturday evening. Over the years, when I have photographed this event, I like to photograph the ice sculptures before and after they are lighted so you can see how they look both ways. Also, the weather was fairly mild. So, some of the features of the sculptures look better before they were lighted. But, for the sculptures that kept their structural integrity, they look much better when they are lighted.
I am posting the sculptures in the order they were listed on the map for the sculptures from the event.
- Crystal Snowflake
2. Viking (Salem State’s sports team’s name)
3 Dog – Buddy, a 4 year old mixed breed, posed the same way as the sculpture!
4 Candy Conversation Hearts
5 Salem Trolley
6 Smile
7 Catacombs
8 Cauldron
9 Piggy Bank
10 Love Letter Picture Frame – Written in French in the center of the sculpture, the translation, which you may not be able to read, is located on the right corner of the sculpture. According to Google Translate, the translation is different than the translation on the ice sculpture. According to Google Translate, it translates to: “You are beautiful. But you are empty. We can’t die for you. Of course, my soft rose, an ordinary passerby would think that it resembles you. But, she alone is more important than all of you since she’s the one I’ve watered.” How romantic.
11 Whale Tail
12 Pumpkin
13 Cat – Some of the ice sculptures, like this one at the Witch House, were lighted by lights that changed colors. I took photos of the sculpture with the different colors of light
14 Gargoyle
15 World
16 Snoopy
17 Moon & Stars
18 Shrimp
19 Skull And Boots
20 Turtles
21 Mice
22 Honey And Hearts
23 Heart T-Rex
24 Sailboat
25 Halloween Cat
26 Black Flame Candle
27 Teapot
28 Glinda The Good Witch – The Salem Witch Museum, where this ice sculpture was located, always seems to have a Wizard Of Oz themed sculpture every time I have photographed this event! There are many connections one could make between the Salem Witch Trials (and witches in general) and the Wizard Of Oz. One connection between the two is that Frank Baum, the writer of the Wizard Of Oz books, was inspired by his mother-in-law and suffragist Matilda Gage. And Gage was very much inspired by Rebecca Nurse, one of the accused witches.
29 Bakery
There were some other ice sculptures not included in the official event.
Re-Find has been putting their own mini sculptures in front of their store for the event the past few years. I always look forward to seeing their version!
This ice sculpture was not included in the list of ice sculptures. But, it was a great sculpture for people to sit on and get their photo taken!
If you’re wondering how they get the sculptures to light up, I had the good fortune of seeing the workers install the lights. They have teams of workers who work on different installations throughout the evening. It only takes them a few mintes to install the lighting fixtures.
The city of Salem and the shop keepers really got into the spirit of the event. There were several shops and buildings that had Valentine’s Day decorations.
This house always has such festive decorations for all of the major holidays and special occassions.
There were also some special guests in Salem for the big event!
Borah may be familiar to some of you who visit Salem regularly.
And Mother Nature of Salem was there with Father Time!
Lastly, I am posting videos of some of the ice sculptures that change colors so you can see it in real time!
New England Nomad 