Festival of Ice
| Festival of Ice | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Festival |
The Festival of Ice is a winter fair in the forest, built around an ice fishing contest the farmer takes part in against Pam, Willy and Elliott. Catching five fish before time runs out wins it, and losing hands the trophy to Willy, who needs no encouragement. The first win pays out in gear that genuinely improves fishing afterwards: a Barbed Hook and a Dressed Spinner, a Magnet and a Sailor's Cap. Every win after that pays a Prize Ticket. The rest of the clearing is given over to ice sculptures, snowmen and igloos, and the Traveling Merchant brings a stall with the fourth Rarecrow on it, which collectors cannot get anywhere else.
Event
The festival takes place on the eighth of every Winter and runs from nine in the morning to two in the afternoon. The way in is to walk into Cindersap Forest, which turns white and frozen for the day, with a lake of ice in the middle of the fields. Every home and shop across the valley is locked, so the day belongs to the festival. Once it ends the farmer is returned to the farm at ten at night.
Mayor Lewis stands at the centre of the ice, and talking to him a few times starts the contest. Five fish is the number to beat. If two or more farmers in a multiplayer game manage it, all of them are paid.
The fishing itself has a quirk worth knowing in advance. The holes cut in the ice are small and awkward to cast into, so the reliable method is to stand right beside a hole and cast as short a distance as possible. It is also not necessary to fish through the ice at all: the forest pond works and its catches count towards the contest, while the forest river does not, which is an easy mistake to make when the river is closer.
The farmer's own rod is not used during the contest. That means no bait, no tackle and no rod enchantments apply, and everyone competes on the same footing. Fish caught in the contest give no fishing experience either, which has the odd side effect that a farmer who has never fished before sees the tutorial instructions pop up on every single cast.
The festival ends by itself once Mayor Lewis has judged the results, so anything else to be done at the fair should be done first.
The villagers have their own conversations around the ice. In odd-numbered years, and only while she is unmarried, Penny asks what sort of snowman she and Jas should build, offering a classic one with a carrot nose, a funky one with icicle antennae and Pine Cone eyes, or an invitation to think outside the box. None of the answers changes her opinion of the farmer. Willy asks, also in odd years, whether the farmer is ready for some ice fishing, and all three replies are equally harmless.
Shop
The Traveling Merchant sets up a booth here, and her stock is seasonal rather than practical.
Rarecrow number four costs 5,000g and is the only reason many farmers attend at all, since the rarecrow set is collected over several years from several festivals and this is the one that appears in Winter.
The decorations run from a Tree of the Winter Star at 5,000g and an Icy Rug at 4,000g down through a Winter Dining Table at 3,000g, a 'Frozen Dreams' picture at 2,000g, a Wall Sconce and a Winter End Table at 1,000g each, an Icy Banner at 800g and Wallpaper at 500g.
Three cooked dishes round the stall out: Cranberry Sauce and Stuffing at 200g each and Pumpkin Soup at 250g. All three are cheap enough to buy as food for a mining trip rather than as recipes.
Notes
The contest has one cruel detail. A fish only registers as caught once the animation of it flying back to the farmer has finished. It is entirely possible to hook the fifth fish as the clock runs out, see the bar announce a perfect catch, and still lose because the fish never completed its flight.
Two villagers have memories tied to this festival. Evelyn explains that she and George met here many years ago, when he threw a snowball at her and then came back to check she was unhurt. Sam tells a story in the days beforehand about Gus falling into the river one year and having to be thawed out inside the inn.
Clicking on the pigs at the festival makes them oink, which is the sort of detail that gets noticed once and then checked every year.
All Festivals
Every entry in this group, with its key details.
