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Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Godwin Balderas works on an ice sculpture for the Sapporo Snow Festival in Hokkaido, Japan, Jan. 29, 2023.

Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Godwin Balderas works on an ice sculpture for the Sapporo Snow Festival in Hokkaido, Japan, Jan. 29, 2023. (Unique Byrd/U.S. Navy)

U.S. Navy sailors created a chill version of the guided-missile destroyer USS Arleigh Burke, first in its class, as their contribution to the first Sapporo Snow Festival in three years.

This year’s eight-day festival opened to visitors on Saturday with 160 sculptures, according to Kyodo News. The annual event, which brings ice sculptors from around the world to the city of Sapporo on Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan’s four main islands, began in 1950.

The COVID-19 pandemic put the festival on ice in 2020, although a virtual version kept its spirit alive in the interim. Some measures are still in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus, such as wearing masks and no eating or drinking at the venues.

The handpicked team of eight Navy ice sculptors from Naval Air Facility Misawa worked outside at Odori Park in central Sapporo for five days in single-digit temperatures to complete their entry by Saturday. They created the bow portion of the ship’s hull with a bridge on its snowy deck.

“Although the team came from the same base, we all belong to different commands,” the team’s leader, Chief Petty Officer Monica Michel, 32, of Cabangan, Philippines, told Stars and Stripes by email Friday. “It's the first time we all worked together despite that we all came together as one. We came to represent the United States Navy.”

The Sapporo Snow has been drawing ice sculptors from around the world to Japan's northernmost main island since 1950.

The Sapporo Snow has been drawing ice sculptors from around the world to Japan's northernmost main island since 1950. (Unique Byrd/U.S. Navy)

A sailor poses with a Japanese man in front of the Navy's ice sculpture at the Sapporo Snow Festival in Hokkaido, Japan, Feb. 4, 2023.

A sailor poses with a Japanese man in front of the Navy's ice sculpture at the Sapporo Snow Festival in Hokkaido, Japan, Feb. 4, 2023. (Unique Byrd/U.S. Navy)

Petty Officer 1st Class Godwin Balderas removes snow from the Navy's ice sculpture at the Sapporo Snow Festival in Hokkaido, Japan, Feb. 2, 2023.

Petty Officer 1st Class Godwin Balderas removes snow from the Navy's ice sculpture at the Sapporo Snow Festival in Hokkaido, Japan, Feb. 2, 2023. (Unique Byrd/U.S. Navy)

The Navy has sent a team to the festival 38 times, Chief Petty Officer Aiden Campbell, a spokesman for Naval Forces Japan, told Stars and Stripes by phone Monday.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Daveon Fitzgerald, an operations specialist with Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing One at Misawa, was the lead designer for the team.

Fitzgerald, 27, of Roanoke, Va., studied graphic design and fine art at Bluefield University in Virginia, he said by email Friday. He said he has sculpted with clay, but never before with ice and snow.

“The hardest part is making the first cuts into the ice block because you can always take away, but it is hard to add on more snow sometimes,” Fitzgerald said.

The sailors started with a large block of snow and ice atop a platform of more snow and ice.

“We wanted to make a design that represented the U.S. Navy and what is better than a destroyer?” Fitzgerald said.

The team began with the very top corner of the block, cutting it to form the hull. Once the shape was completed, they slowly added details to give the ship a realistic appearance, Fitzgerald said.

Japanese visitors stopped to watch and talk to the sailors while they worked, he said.

“Japanese locals have been so kind and were very interested in our sculpture,” Fitzgerald said. “We recently had a Japanese national bring their son to our sculpture to take photos. He gifted us with hot coffee so I traded an ‘Iron Ike’ patch from my 207-day deployment with no ports to the young boy. Such a nice moment.”

The aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower spent an extended time at sea during the pandemic, from January to August 2020, to reduce the potential for exposure to the coronavirus.

The sailors took occasional breaks to walk around the park and inspect the other teams’ snow-and-ice sculptures, Michel said. Life-sized sculptures were built on every block of the park, he said.

“The event has been fun thanks to the positive attitudes and hardworking team I have,” Michel said. “Everyone has the initiative and focus to reach our goal and we did just that. Thanks to them!”

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Kelly Agee is a reporter and photographer at Yokota Air Base, Japan, who has served in the U.S. Navy for 10 years. She is a Syracuse Military Photojournalism Program alumna and is working toward her bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Maryland Global Campus. Her previous Navy assignments have taken her to Greece, Okinawa, and aboard the USS Nimitz.

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