Snow Sculpture Removed From Contest for Anti-ICE Symbols

A snow sculpture has been hauled out of a Minnesota park after organizers decided its hidden messages went too far. The US team's entry in the World Snow Sculpting Championship in Stillwater—"A Call to Arms," a sphere of outstretched hands—was removed from Lowell Park on Monday after judges discovered some of the hands were spelling out phrases in American Sign Language, including "ICE out" and "resist," as well as the more benign "love" and "unity," per the Pioneer Press. The Greater Stillwater Chamber of Commerce, which runs the event, said the changes violated rules requiring teams to stick to their original sketches and to avoid political or controversial themes. Chamber chief Robin Anthony-Evenson said the ASL signs didn't match the open-fingered hands in the approved design and that complaints had come in from the public.

Organizers first tried to quietly remove some of the hand signs, then took down the entire sculpture after finding more "hidden messages." Artist Dusty Thune, Team USA's captain, says the concept shifted due to crumbling snow that forced the team to carve larger hands with shorter arms. He also hinted that the recent fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis by a federal immigration officer shaped their thinking on the tweaked message. Thune, a special ed teacher in St. Paul, said he'd invited students and colleagues to contribute ideas and saw the work as a call to "stand up and to speak out."

He argues "ICE out" is no longer partisan but "a humanitarian call for help," adding that his team stands by the piece. In a letter to Thune, the chamber, Stillwater's mayor, and the event co-chair called the additions a "selfish" and "unnecessary and divisive" breach of clear rules against political content, though Mayor Ted Kozlowski also said he hopes Thune returns in future years. A member of Team New Zealand criticized the decision on social media as more political than the sculpture itself.

The removal comes amid a parallel dispute at the St. Paul Winter Carnival, where a smaller snow piece bearing the phrase "ICE OUT MN" was partly carved away, with organizers citing similar family-friendly, nonpolitical guidelines. Thune, whose team won the Stillwater world title in 2023, now says he wants to recast "A Call to Arms" permanently in iron and has launched a fundraiser to try to make that happen.