It's good to be chilly in downtown Port Huron

Joey Postiglione thinks Port Huron during Chilly Fest is a pretty cool place.

"It's fun, it's good," said Joey, who is a member of the PeeWee A Bandits hockey team from Wayne, New Jersey.

He and his teammates were in the city for the Silver Stick International hockey team and, with a game coming up Saturday, were checking out the ice sculptures and hot chocolate during Friday's Cocoa Crawl, part of Chilly Fest.

The ice sculptures "are really nice," said Joey, who is 11. "I don't know how they make them."

They use chainsaws, grinders, cutting bits and Japanese chisels, said Matt Sokolowski, of Livonia, a professional ice sculptor. He and Matt Cooper, from Fenton, were setting up sculptures for Michigan Ice Carvers, a company based in Livonia.

"It's an artistic release," said Cooper, who is an executive chef. "Most chefs are very creative people and they're always looking for an artistic release."

Devin Crimmins, of Commerce Township, and Doug Baker, of White Lake Township, were watching Sokolowski and Cooper carve horses and moose and other frozen critters.

They were at the Silver Stick tournament with their kids' team, the Bantam AA Farmington Flames, when they stumbled upon the Chilly Fest activities.

"It's cool," Baker said. "It's a neat deal.

"We're here for the Silver Stick and walking around with the kids killing time, and they're digging it."

Landon Lapp, 6, also was digging it. His favorite ice sculpture was the snowman Olaf from Disney's "Frozen."

Landon and his grandmother, Jan Lapp, were strolling through the downtown, looking for penguins, part of a contest by MainStreet Port Huron.

"We had to find the penguins," Landon said.

"We were penguin hunting, weren't we," his grandmother said. "Some of the people couldn't find them."

Kristi Hazard, program manager for MainStreet Port Huron, said lots of people were looking for the penguins.

"I never thought penguins were so popular," she said. "Even the adults want to hunt for the penguins."

MainStreet this year is producing Chilly Fest, which continues with a full schedule of events on Saturday.

James Branch, owner of The Vault Sweet Shoppe, 902 Military St., said he'll be open from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday.

On Friday, he said, a group of kids from a Silver Stick team attempted to eat the Vault Cracker, a sundae with 20 8-ounce scoops of ice cream. They couldn't do it — but they still got a T-shirt.

"They got a little more than halfway through," Branch said.

He was hoping for more customers.

"We've had a lot of activity on Facebook for this event," he said.

Emily Wallace, at Mosher's Jewelers, 336 Huron Ave., said there was a steady stream of people into the store.

"Cocoa Crawl started about a half hour ago, and we've had about 20 people through, and we've had some penguin finders," she said.

Baxter, a 7 1/2-month old yellow Lab that Wallace is raising for Leader Dogs for the Blind, was getting ready for a walk.

"Baxter is anxiously awaiting the Snow-Dog Parade (at 2 p.m. Saturday)," Wallace said.

Chilly Fest, she said, "is a great deal. It brings people downtown, and they have a lot of fun. Who wouldn't enjoy some fun?

"What a great way to show the Silver Stick people, who traveled all that way, show them a nice event."

Contact Bob Gross at (810) 989-6263 or rgross@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @RobertGross477