NILES — Lisa Croteau was difficult to spot in the Hunter Ice Festival crowd, but she was in it from dawn to dusk each of its three main days.

Like attendees, the Niles Main Street DDA director went about from ice sculpture to ice sculpture, warming center to warming center, business to business, taking it all in under a thick jacket, hat and gloves.

Croteau was the mastermind behind the festival, which is organized by Niles Main Street. From the time ice for carving arrived Monday, Jan. 13 to when the final families made their trek through down E. Main Street looking at sculptures Sunday evening, Croteau saw it through.

“Monday is when I’ll sleep,” she said Saturday afternoon.

On Monday afternoon, Croteau said the event was a success.

Final bills and turnout estimates are not yet in, but Saturday morning’s Frigid 5K race brought in more than 360 people, despite rain and slush.

Sponsorships were at their best in the festival’s 16 years, Croteau said. More than $25,000 in $200 to $1,000 sponsors from businesses, individuals and organizations — many local — came in before the festival began.

That was helpful for two reasons, she said. First, it allowed for more ice carving. Second, it made up for a tough sale of Palazzolo’s Artisen Dairy’s specialty blend ice cream from the UltraCamp warming booth. The ice cream and ice carvings are both nods to the Hunters Brothers Ice and Cream Company, a Barron Lake business at the turn of the 20th Century.

The ice cream sales were stifled due to a slew of slush, snow, rain and strong winds at different points during the weekend. Nevertheless, Croteau said attendance was strong.

“We controlled what we could and put on absolutely the best festival possible with the weather conditions we were given,” Croteau said. “It keeps getting better and better. Businesses create more unique, fun experiences for visitors to have and do during [the] festival, and people love it.”

Attendees had 11 more businesses than last year to visit, creating more opportunities for free fun or for money spent in Niles-based businesses, she said.

One of the backbones behind the Hunter Ice Festival’s continuance is Shelf Life Community Bookstore, 223 N. Fourth St., Niles. The volunteer-run nonprofit takes donated books and sells them to raise for money for Niles Main Street events, the Hunter Ice Festival included.

The bookstore had extended weekend hours to correlate with the festival. The weekend was the grand debut of two refurbished rooms, the collector’s room and the children’s room.

Volunteers were always dissatisfied with the two rooms’ layouts, said April Gargis, volunteer coordinator for Shelf Life. Thanks to the help of seven Cedar Lane Alternative Education students, new shelves were added and the spaces reorganized in a way that better suited each room’s theme.

“They were amazing and did a couple of days’ worth of work in the short amount of time they were with us,” Gargis said of the student volunteers.

Like ice cream sales, book sales were not as strong as in years’ past, but the two-year manager of Shelf Life said it was likely due to the weather.

The best way to boost sales is to increase the customer base. Gargis said the large selection of children and young adult books; an array of nonfiction ranging from biographies to cookbooks; a host of modern authors; and a collector’s room with books from different eras and countries are big draws.

Croteau and Gargis hope to bring in more attendees from Michiana and beyond next year during the Hunter Ice Festival. That allows Croteau to witness more of what she appreciates most about the weekend.

“I love hearing comments and seeing pictures of people exploring and loving our town,” she said.

CORRECTION: 12:19 p.m., 1/19/2020: Due to a source error, a previous version of this article incorrectly stated the name of ice cream provided at the Hunter Ice Festival. The correct provider is Palazzolo’s Artisan Dairy in Fennville, Michigan. Leader Publications is happy to correct errors.