Dan Rebholz makes his own toys

*updated 12/22/11



For the second year in a row, I was able to compete at the competition in Lewisvile, Texas. Lewisville is a small city that’s part of the Dallas metro area and apparently they hold a yearly holiday festival. Dean DeMaris of Ice FX has run a competition for the last couple of years at this festival. Dean has some good ideas on how to run a competition and seems to be on his way to building a really nice event.

Positives: Even though it was December, Dean was able to line up some real world class talent, getting Buddy Rasmussen (NICA National Champion and 2002 Olympian), Dan Rebholz (2 time Olympian: 2002 & 2006), and Ben Rand (2006 Olympian) to compete. Another world class carver, Robert Bifulco, was one of the judges. Nobody walked away unhappy, as appearance fees were paid to the carvers. A lot of expenses for the carvers were taken care of as well and the event was fun and friendly with a casual atmosphere.

Negatives: Not much. There were some strange results in the judging, but this is probably due to the fact that Alice Connelly got stuck at home because of weather, so NICA had no way to guide the event and the judging. There was also some disorganization, but if Dean gets a little help setting up the competition, possibly from NICA, this can be easily fixed.

I believe that Dean has hit on a winning formula for competitions. I don’t know if he’s the first, but I haven’t been a part of a similar event in the past. These are the basic components that I believe are important.

1) Pay appearance fees. All carvers were paid. The “prize” money was paid out to everyone and there was no monetary prize for winning. This eliminated the gamble that busy, quality carvers usually face at competitions during the holiday season.

2) Make the competition semi-invitational. With a limited number of slots available and an appearance fee paid, it needs to be clear that each carver can come up with a quality piece for the event.

3) Provide meals, accommodations, and transportation for the carvers. This eliminates a big headache and keeps the carvers together for any other items on the agenda.

4) Judge the pieces and give awards. I wasn’t able to prepare much at all for this competition and I would have liked to carve better against the quality carvers that were at this event. Giving awards makes it more than just a demo. NICA needs to do the judging so that the results have value and some consistency.

5) Do multiple block carvings. We carved six or seven blocks in six hours. Bigger carvings are better for this sort of event.

6) Do a People’s Choice award. This helps get the crowd involved.

7) Use a tent. The one carving exposed to sunlight (a logo piece for the event) crashed by the end of the competition. None of the carvers crashed their pieces, however.

8) Provide helpers and dry ice. These were important for carving large pieces in above-freezing conditions.

9) Fun, relaxed atmosphere. No carver crashed and none of the carvers seemed to have serious complaints at the end of the competition. Taking the money out of the equation probably contributed to this. Also, everybody knew they were being paid and thus acted professionally and interacted well with the public.


Congratulations to Ben Rand for winning the judged portion of the event with his Jack Frost sculpture!



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Tags: Texas, Dallas, competitions