An Academy Award winner is bringing real snow to The Banks in Cincinnati.
Snow Banks at The Banks is a pop-up event that will include a dozen snow activities, such as a 50-foot long snow tube ramp, a sledding hill and "blizzards" for snow selfies. Special effects producer Dieter Sturm, who has won awards for his work in movies like Green Book and Transformers, is overseeing the event.
He says they have a snow maker truck that converts ice into snow. "It'll actually take 300 pounds of blocks of ice and shave it down to the consistency of real snow - which is just frozen particles of water - and we can produce upwards to about 800 pounds of snow per minute," Sturm says.
January and February are the slowest months for businesses at The Banks. This year it's trying to get patrons off the couch and into activities like ice carving, acoustic performances and horse and carriage rides.
Tracy Schwegmann represents retailers at The Banks. She says event organizers wanted to encourage people to embrace the weather.
Activities start Friday, Jan. 3 at 5 p.m. and will run every weekend in January until 9 p.m.
Mother Nature may interrupt some of the fun.
"One of the challenges we're going to have this weekend is the rain," Sturm says. "Obviously, rain and real snow don't mix well together." He says he's keeping an eye on the weather to make sure everything goes as planned.