By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
Forty-seven degree temperatures licked at the last of the snow Saturday like it was ice cream until green grass and puddles sprouted at Greater Dowagiac Chamber of Commerce's ninth annual Ice Time Festival.
Beeson Street Grill won the "chili crawl" with 82 of 313 votes cast. Wood Fire Italian Tratorria finished second with 72 ballots after winning last year.
Langland, creator of Dowagiac's Dance of Creation in Farr Park and Resting Dancer by City Hall, said, "I was very impressed. There are some wonderful sculptures out there. I think some of the good ones are gone, and there's not much I can do about that. If yours was gone by 3 o'clock, I'm sorry, because it may have been a winner."
First place, and $600, went to Cory Erwin's Fish and Bubbles sponsored by dentists Chuck Burling and Jon Gillesby on Commercial Street.
Second place, and $400, went to Bud Lies of LaPorte, Ind., for Cupid and Carnations in front of Booth's Country Florist.
Third place, and $200, was awarded to John Crumpacker for Swiss Valley Ski Area's Marilyn Monroe in front of Saylor's Pizzeria.
Langland consoled those who didn't win with, "I tell my students, Babe Ruth, the greatest (baseball) player who ever lived, failed six times out of 10."
Carvers spent as much as three hours on the one piece they could submit for competition.
Freezing your face in that time-honored Ice Time element, lapping up a Pig's Dinner at Caruso's Candy Kitchen, takes much less time.
The Pig's Dinner, served in a trough, consists of a scoop each of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ice cream and a dollop of orange sherbet, topped with whipped cream, chocolate syrup, nuts, pineapple and cherries.
For Ryan Gleason, 10, of Elkhart, Ind., it was breakfast. He won the age 6-10 bracket.
Jason Hurrle, 13, an eighth grader at Dowagiac Central Middle School, won among ages 11-15.
Ryan's father, Jeremy, prevailed among adults. Jeremy, who grew up in the Dowagiac area and attended school in Decatur, also had a strategy for the afternoon hot wings eating contest sponsored by Saylor's to coat his lips with Carmex, but his scheme didn't account for the continued domination of Frank Sears, 39, of Granger, Ind. Since he and his wife found the festival by accident four years ago on a drive, Frank finished second his first time with 15 and won in 2004 and in 2005.
While his consumption was off from 14 last February to 12, that can be attributed to a rules change. Where he gulped a dozen in one minute, he ate the 14 in three minutes.
Sears works as an archery technician for a sporting goods store.