Frosty Fest 2025: Potsdam braves cold to keep tradition alive

POSTDAM, (N.Y.) — Potsdam, a small town not far from the Canadian border in New York state’s North Country, is no stranger to snow. 

Thus, it’s not surprising that it used to have snow sculpture competitions that started in the 1940s and ran until about the 1980s. 

The locals would build dinosaurs and couches out of the piles of snow dumped on their front lawns and parks. 

The Potsdam Public History Museum has photographs of what the townspeople created. That’s where Sharon Williams, the executive director of the North Country’s Children’s Museum, first found out about the now defunct competition. 

“And I thought ‘You know what? That’s kind of sad….We could do a snowman competition,’”  Williams said. “It’s a little bit of the idea that all of the people are coming together in the village. But instead of people, they’re snow people coming together in the village — representations of us in our town park.” 

During the pandemic, Williams and the directors of the arts council and Potsdam Chamber of Commerce got together and created Frosty Fest. 

The timing was perfect. Williams said the first Frosty Fest was popular because there was nothing happening. 

Sharon Williams and other Potsdam community leaders started the Frosty Fest to have an event that revives the tradition of celebrating winter in Potsdam.

Williams hosted the event again in late January. And although the snow wasn’t great for building and temperature was in the teens, dozens of locals still came out to roast marshmallows by the fire and frosty artworks.  

Maggie McKenna, the former director of the arts council who helped found Frosty Fest, attended with her two daughters and husband. 

“There’s so much fun to be had,” McKenna said. “It was just a really fun way to collaborate as a nonprofit organization in Potsdam but also as community members wanting to bring families out to have a good time even in the hardest of times.” 

Frosty Fest was held at Ives Park, where McKenna and her started a concert series. The McKenna family — proud artists — decided to create a moon and with the planets surrounding. 

The McKenna family’s moon and planets snow sculpture at Frosty Fest in Potsdam, N.Y.

McKenna’s youngest daughter, Penny, reminded mother they win an award in the competition every year. The McKennas took home the honor of “most artistic” for their moon project. 

They had steep competition. Williams was impressed. She liked the snow sculptures of a frog, a dog with a bone, and a turtle. In past years, she’s seen snow fish and vampires. 

The local police even returned to build their snow cop — as they do annually. Local businesses donate prizes, food and drinks to Frosty Fest.  

Williams grew up in Maryland and said she never had “a real winter”. She moved her family up north to be closer to family. 

She loves going to big cities and all they offer. Being in a remote, cold town like Potsdam that has some economic challenges, she said, can sometimes create a collective low self-esteem about where they live. 

She's said she’s proud, however, to be part of the creation of the charm that attracts people to the small towns like Potsdam. She likes to remind residents of that charm. 

“There’s a lot of possibility,” Williams said. “You just have to look for it, create and find ways to bring people together.” 

Frosty Fest has even reached longtime Potsdam natives. Williams said they viscerally remember the old snow sculpture competitions. Williams posts pictures from Frosty Fest on Facebook and the “old-timers” — as she calls them — will comment saying “It’s just like the old days,” Williams said. 

“The people that have grown up here and moved away….have really seen that connection and we brought something back that’s really meaningful for people,” Williams said.