Jeff Scarpa is the top carver of 80 in Food Network contest

LAKEVILLE — In November, Jeff Scarpa of Lakeville and more than 80 ice carvers from all over the United States were asked to submit their “ice carving†resume and send some pictures of their carvings to the first ever Bronx Zoo Ice Carving Competition. Called Salute to Wildlife, it was sponsored by The Food Network.

 Fifteen finalists were selected and on Dec. 27, they came to the zoo and created wildlife sculptures. Each carver had two 300-pound blocks of ice to work with, and a  four-hour time limit.  

The weather was warm that day, which created very challenging conditions for the carvers. Scarpa had to change his plans at midnight before the competition, and choose a different design that was better suited to the temperature.

The conditions were ideal for the spectators, though, and about 5,000 people came out that day to watch the carvers hack, hew and shave the frozen blocks into sea creatures, giraffes, gorillas and other wildlife.  

There were three judges, whose votes counted for 80 percent of the tally.  Spectators also voted for their favorites; their votes made up the other 20 percent of the total.  

And after all the works were completed, the ice carvers themselves were asked to vote. Scarpa was the unnanimous winner among all three groups. His sculpture, The Bronx Sea, was a finely wrought representation in ice of a shark and a sea turtle above a coral reef.

Scarpa was awarded  a trophy plus $1,000 in cash and prizes.  

For the rest of this month, the Bronx Zoo is asking visitors to the zoo and the Web site to vote for their favorite sculpture. Voters are also entered in a drawing for prizes that include free memberships to the zoo and a trip to an ice carving display in the Poconos Mountains. To see photos of Scarpa and other carvers, and to vote, go online to bronxzoo.com; then, click on the small photo at the top of the page of an ice sculpture.

Scarpa and other area ice experts are also expected to take part in the annual competition on the Green in front of The White Hart Inn on Saturday, Feb. 6. Between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., expert carvers hew their power tools and compete for $1,000 in cash prizes.