Phi Kappa Tau in Hancock wins first place in Michigan Tech Winter Carnival Snow Statue Competition

Phi Kappa Tau's 2017 winning creation, "In the Snow it Shall Appear, A Town of the New Frontier" is the ninth Winter Carnival victory in 10 years for this Michigan Tech fraternity, located in Hancock. (Photo by Keweenaw Now)*

By Mark Wilcox, Michigan Tech News Writer
Posted Feb. 9, 2017, on Tech Today
Reprinted with permission

The winners have been announced in the Michigan Tech Winter Carnival Snow Statue Competition. This year's theme is "Snow Cascades Across the Decades."

For the ninth time in the last 10 years, Phi Kappa Tau captured the top prize in the month-long statue division. Their winning entry, constructed outside their house in Hancock, is "In the Snow it Shall Appear, A Town of the New Frontier."

Visitors admire the detailed construction in snow and ice that characterizes Phi Kappa Tau's winning entry. Their frontier town includes, from left, a saloon, a church with clock tower, a jail and a train. (Photo by Keweenaw Now)*

This year there were three divisions in the month-long competition -- men, women and co-ed. Prizes were awarded to the top three in each division. The top three scores among all the statues were placed in the "Overall Month Long " section.

Second place in the overall section went to Tau Kappa Epsilon, 2015's winner and the only team other than Phi Kappa Tau to capture the top prize over the past decade. Their entry was "In This Icy Condition, We Mourn Prohibition." Both Phi Kappa Tau and Tau Kappa Epsilon competed in the men's division.**

Third place overall went to the top statue in the co-ed division, Sigma Tau Gamma and Theta Chi Epsilon for "Leaving the 80s High and Dry as We Hit '88 with Marty McFly."

Taking a look at the divisional results, following Phi Kappa Tau and Tau Kappa Epsilon in the men's division was Sigma Phi Epsilon with "The Keweenaw's Silver Lining is the Decade of Copper Mining."

In the women's division, Alpha Sigma Tau took the top spot with "In Tonight's Feature Presentation, A Phenomenon Sweeps the Nation. The 50's Tradition Captured in Snow, Where American Teenagers Love to Go."

Second place went to Delta Zeta for "A 60s Meal of Ice and Snow, Fills Your Belly When It's 10 Below." Delta Phi Epsilon took third place in the women's division for "Let's Have a Blast Through Michigan Tech's Past."

In the co-ed division, following Sigma Tau Gamma and Theta Chi Epsilon, in second place were the Four Wheelers of MTU with "Off-Road Upgrades Across the Decades." Third place went to Raptor and Armada.

In the overnight competition, statues that began Wednesday afternoon and were completed Thursday morning, the top prize went to St. Albert the Great University Parish, followed by Concordia Student Mininstries. Strange Crew took third.

The Michigan Tech's Huskies Pep Band won the Interactive Statue division.

* To see Keweenaw Now's slide show of Phi Kappa Tau's winning statue and our interpretation of the frontier town CLICK HERE and use the options menu to read the captions next to each photo.

** To see photos of other winning statues, visit Michigan Tech's Winter Carnival Gallery.