Navy Misawa Snow Team Wraps up 2017 Sapporo Snow Festival

SAPPORO, HOKKAIDO, JAPAN

02.08.2017

Story by Petty Officer 2nd Class Samuel Weldin 

Naval Air Facility Misawa

SAPPORO, Japan (NNS) -- Sailors stationed at U.S. Naval Air Facility Misawa and its tenant commands are finding their time coming to a close at the 68th annual 2017 Sapporo Snow Festival.

This was the 34th consecutive year that the U.S. Navy has sent a team to create a Navy themed sculpture and participate in the festival.

The team spent five days using hand tools that included chisels, hatchets, handsaws, and knives to cut, shape, and smooth a 10-by-10 foot block of compacted snow into a replica of a vintage U.S. Navy Diver on the sea floor.

"I have built everything from roads to bridges to schools, but never an ice sculpture," said Chief Builder, and the sculpture team's crew chief this year, Frank Ring. "It had its challenges, but I am extremely proud of the work this group put into it and the final product we had to represent the U.S. Navy."

Along with the actual diver, the team sculpted a large "U.S. Navy" along the base of the block, as well as the word "diver" across the top. Creativity came into play when the team added a treasure chest and octopus to the sculpture on the last day of sculpting.

"Coming into the Navy I would have never guessed that I could receive an assignment like this," said Interior Communications Electrician 3rd Class Gabriele Tate-Santos, from Baltimore, Md., attached to Naval Air Facility Misawa, and also the team's lead artist for the project. "Painting is my artistic background, but sculpting wasn't too far off in terms of depth and creating a project that provides the viewer an experience they won't forget."

The team presented their sculpture, took many photos, and interacted with festival goers throughout the week.

One special guest stopped by to congratulate the team on a successful endeavor and wish them a job well done, Commander Navy Region Japan, Rear Adm. Matthew Carter.

During the team's stay in Sapporo they are once again being hosted by the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force.

Along with Ring and Tate-Santos, this year's all-Navy snow sculpting team is also comprised of Builder 1st Class Thomas Thornton, assigned to Public Works Detachment Misawa, from Chicopee, Massachusetts, Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ben Larscheid, from De Pere, Wis., Seaman Desiree Ankney, from Hicksville, Ohio, Aviation Support Equipment Technician 2nd Class Apolinar Nebria, from Long Beach, Calif., Seaman Jeffrey Postal, from Shawnee, Okla., Seaman Andy Chazerreta, from Fort Worth, Texas, and Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Samuel Weldin, from Columbia, South Carolina.

There are many snow sculpting teams from around the world that participate in the festival every year. Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force and the city of Sapporo create some of the largest sculptures measuring more than 40 feet high and 80 feet wide.

There will also be a snow sculpting competition that is held annually during the festival.

• Date Taken: 02.08.2017
• Date Posted: 02.08.2017 01:30
• Story ID: 222871
• Location: SAPPORO, HOKKAIDO, JP
• Hometown: BALTIMORE, MD, US
• Hometown: COLUMBIA, SC, US
• Hometown: DE PERE, WI, US
• Hometown: FORT WORTH, TX, US
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