This past week, the Point Edward council announced the first annual Snow Creation Contest was going to be taking place after the next snow fall. At The Cheese Wedge, we are always looking for new & fun ways to get involved with community - so we KNEW we had to be involved with this event. We got to planning, and decided that we would sculpt a mouse sitting on a cheese wedge (very on brand for us) and then we waited for the snowfall to come. Turns out, we did not have to wait long. Our little part of South-Western Ontario was hit with several centimeters of snow during a storm, and so - we got to work!
We met as a team on Saturday morning - equipped with hot chocolate, multiple layers of clothing, our awesome attitudes (of course), and together we braved the -20 degree weather to start building our creation. A few of us thought that this would be a quick & easy task, we thought it might take 30 minutes or so. We were wrong. And we learned that quickly! It took us quite some time to understand the proper sculpting techniques. We are very grateful for J, who held down the shop while we were out building our creation. And for Heather, for coming in special on Saturday so we could offer our lunch specials to anyone who came by to support us!
So, we were struggling at first to make progress, but thankfully we had a "professional" snow sculptor on our team - Kirby! Kirby explained that if you pack the snow into bins first (versus trying to roll it into place) that we would have a much easier time shaping the snow the way we liked. She was right, but years of making epic snow forts will teach you these things.
We also were NOT working with packing snow. Because the snow fall was a few days old, the snow was not sticking together. It was also VERY cold, which made the snow more ice like than snow like. This meant that we needed to turn what we were working with into packing snow. We did this by dedicating one person to continuously spraying the creation with a water bottle (here you can see Kelsey taking one for the team), and also by mixing together snow and water in a bucket.
We were absolutely determined to make this work! And you know what? We did. By working together, slowly but surely, our creation started to come to life. After we had the creation sculpted the way we liked, we got to work making it POP! We first took yellow food colouring & mixed it with water in a spray bottle. Then we sprayed our snow wedge until it became a cheese wedge. Next up, we wanted to give the mouse a cute pink belly. So we did, using the same technique. At this point, we thought we were done - but something still felt like it was missing.
That is when we decided to dye the mouse blue! Over the course of 2 hours, our pile of snow went from "indescribable blob" to "an incredible work of art" with a few simple finishing touches. Once the mouse had it's ears and whiskers - we knew we were pretty much done. We just had to name him. After approximately 2 seconds, we decided on Remy (after the chef rat in the movie Ratatouille). Once he had his name, we knew we were finished. We all hurried back inside to warm up!
Normally on Saturdays, we are partially staffed - but this event brought us all together. This is usually something that usually only happens during the holidays. It was such a fun day, and we really bonded as a team. What was also really special, was that our next door neighbour was creating their sculpture at the same time. We were able to lend each other tools, offer each other tips, and share quite a few laughs. Colleen, the store manager, was even featured in the Sarnia Observer posing next to Remy!
Now... by this time you have probably gotten so lost in the story that you forgot this was a competition! But alas, we were out to win.
Take one last look at our creation and guess if we won or not:
And that is totally okay. We won simply by taking part in this new community tradition, truly. We are already looking forward to next year's competition.
The first place winner is located at 25 Alfred St., second place can be found at 24 Louisa St., and third place is 509 Victoria Ave. Everyone did such an incredible job, and the pictures can be found on the Village of Point Edward's facebook group. They are definitely all worth checking out!
If you haven't yet met Remy, be sure to stop by our store at 601 Michigan Ave in Point Edward to do so (before he melts). And while you're here, try our new lunch menu! We are offering fresh gourmet grilled cheeses & soups every weekday from 11-2pm.
Thank you to the Point Edward council for putting together such a special event for the community. Thank you to everyone who came by on Saturday to cheer us on (and thank you to those who honked from their cars, as well).
Stay tuned for more Cheese Wedge fun. 2022 is going to be a great year!