York's annual ice sculpture trail pulls in thousands

Back to the Future-inspired ice sculpture

Up to 40,000 people visited York over the weekend for the city's annual ice trail, according to organisers.

Dozens of frozen sculptures were placed at spots around the city, with the different designs sponsored by local businesses.

The theme was "a journey through time" and the sculptures reflected the city's history and key figures with links to the city, such as Guy Fawkes.

York's railway and chocolate-making heritage were also celebrated in ice.

Sarah Loftus, managing director at organisers Make it York, said the aim of the festival was to showcase the city and to show people "how beautiful York is".

York to London skyline sculpture

Some well-known Yorkshire brands were among those sponsoring sculptures

The event, which started seven years ago, aims to attract families to the city centre and boost post-Christmas trade.

"It's incredibly important because when people come in it's a free trail and people feel happy and they spend in local businesses," Ms Loftus said.

She said about 80% of those who attended spent money in local shops.

York Central MP Rachael Maskell tweeted it was "wonderful" to see the city "bursting with families".

Crowds gatherd for live ice sculpting demonstrations

What trail in York would be complete without a sculpture of a Viking?

In addition to the sculptures, there were demonstrations of ice carving by ice sculpture specialist Icebox which created all 37 of the carvings on display in the city's streets.

The full trail took about two hours to walk round.