OCCA estimates crowd of 19,000 for 2-day ice event

William Sandusky (center foreground, in cap), chainsaws a piece of ice for the castle (2 blocks high at the time) that reached 4 blocks high before the weekend was over. Westside Pioneer photo        With temperatures in the upper 50s, the Old Colorado City Associates (OCCA) commercial group estimates that 19,000 people attended its second annual Ice on the Avenue event Jan. 16-17.        The inaugural event last January had been blessed with similar weather and a crowd estimated at about 17,000.        “I am pleased that so many people came out to support the ice event and enjoyed the beautiful weather,” OCCA President Charles Irwin said. “The warm weather melted the ice but we did not care... We will make it even bigger for next year.”        The main activities were in Bancroft Park, where featured ice sculptor William Sandusky carved the front “wall” of an 8-foot-high “ice castle” with a kid's slide over the weekend.        In Colorado Avenue's 2600-block public parking lot (closed for the occasion), people lined up to pay a dollar for the chance to roll a ball down a 25-foot-long ice “bowling alley. On the avenue, some businesses sported previously made Sandusky ice carvings.        Amongst the other sculptures in Bancroft were likenesses of a throne, a ship, a horse, a snowflake, a house, a swan and a desk. An ice “piggy bank” allowed people to make donations to Care and Share, according to OCCA marketing director Seiko Tran.        Overall, he said, the event used more than 150 blocks of ice, each weighing 300 pounds. The ice "bowling alley." Westside Pioneer photo Westside Pioneer/press release