New Brunswicker lends an icy hand to Quebec City's winter carnival
Grand Falls man constructs ice dome for famous frozen festival
Eric Ouellette is known for a few reasons around the small New Brunswick town of Grand Falls.
Not only does he operate the zip line across the falls, but he's also famous for creating massive ice domes.
And just over a year ago, his icy skills caught the attention of Canada's largest winter festival.
"One day I get a call from Winter Carnival out of the blue asking about my dome skills and how to build one," said Ouellette.
"It just snowballed from there, I guess," he said with a laugh.
Ouellette was invited to last year's carnival so organizers could meet him and ask about his skills.
After hours of planning meetings, the plans were made — he would construct an ice dome for the special 70th anniversary Winter Carnival of 2024.
"It was a roller coaster ride of emotion, but man, it paid off," Ouellette said.
But following the steps from planning to crafting to constructing the ice dome was no easy task. He began by discussing plans and safety measures with the carnival team in November.
Ouellette said he's built six or seven ice domes in the past, and is the current Guinness World Record holder of the largest dome igloo made of ice.
But his previous builds have been around the Grand Falls area, not a whole province over, so he devised a plan.
Ouellette would construct the ice blocks in New Brunswick, and transport them to Quebec City, where the ice dome will be constructed.
"I'll just say we needed more than one trailer, we had more than 66,000 pounds of ice for this igloo."
But even preparing the blocks would be quite the task, because he needed so many molds. But working with an organization as large as Quebec's winter carnival has its perks.
"I told them I needed 4,000 buckets. One day they sent an email saying they had secured the 4,000 buckets and where do you want them?" Ouellette said.
"Holy smokes!"
Despite the challenges of transporting the blocks on a four-hour drive, they made their way safely to the carnival. After nine days of work, Ouellette and his crew placed the final block on Tuesday.
He topped it off with flags from his company, Zip Zag, and a flag of the carnival's mascot, Bonhomme Carnaval, the carnival snowman.
He said he was surprised how many people stopped to take pictures and talk with them as it was built.
Ice dome will likely break Ouellette's previous world record
When the ice dome is unveiled on Feb. 2, the mayors of Quebec City and Grand Falls will be present to take official measurements to send to Guinness World Records.
Ouellette is confident this new ice dome will smash his previous record.
"At this time as we speak, I can tell you we have set another one," he said.
Ouellette is waiting for the official measurement, but said the diameter is more than nine metres — or 30 feet.
"You're definitely not going to knock your head inside it either, it's 18 or 19 feet tall."
Ouellette said he donated his own time and resources to make the ice dome, but he also wants to draw tourists' attention to his business, the Grand Falls area, and New Brunswick as a whole.
His part of New Brunswick is the gateway to the Maritimes for tourists driving from Quebec and Ontario, and Ouellette hopes they'll take notice.
"I thought it would be a great marketing stunt if we could pull this off in the heart of Quebec, which is only four hours away from us."
Mayor says Ouellette is well known for his ventures
Grand Falls Mayor Bertrand Beaulieu is excited for his trip to Quebec City to verify the measurement, and said the ice dome is great visibility for his town.
"We're proud of the team that built that dome, and we're proud that it's from Grand Falls," Beaulieu said.
He said Ouellette is well known around town.
"He's famous for his ice domes, and he's famous for his go-getter attitude. He always has projects going on," Beaulieu said.
Ouellette will also be using the trip as a way to promote the town.
"We'll be out there handing out business cards with an invitation to come to Grand Falls now that they know the dome was built by people from Grand Falls."
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