• Ice Magic Festival, Banff National Park, Canada
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    2. Ice Magic Festival, Banff National Park, Canada

    Banff National Park's Ice Magic Festival is the highlight of its month-long Snow Days festival, held at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. The 34-hour competition features 24 ice carvers from around the world working in two-person teams to carve sculptures based on specific themes from 300-pound blocks of ice.

    Though the ice carving competition is Snow Days' most anticipated evet, the festival includes other activities such as the "One Carver, One Hour, One Block" speed carving event, ice carving demonstrations and horse-drawn wagon rides.