Village Inn owner, chef and nationally recognized ice sculptor, Jeff Bleier, with his most recent creation, the snowman who tips his hat to the traffic at monument in Caledonia. Photo by Sally Santora

How do you combine an artistic talent with a passion for cooking? You open your own restaurant where you are the master chef turning out delicious dishes and where you can showcase your talent by carving beautiful ice sculptures for customers and the public to enjoy.This is the story of Jeff Bleier, owner and chef of the Village Inn restaurant in Caledonia. Bleier and his wife Lisa opened the restaurant early in summer 2009 just in time for the return of the Caledonia Firemen’s parade. Parade goers got a peak for the first time at Bleier’s incredible talent when he displayed an ice sculpture of the CFD logo on parade night. It drew a lot of attention that night and since then, customers and the public keep their eyes on the front porch to see what Bleier will create next.

The sculptures are carved out of specially made clear ice blocks with a price tag of around 75 to 95 dollars each. It takes three days to create two blocks of clear ice. Bleier was studying graphic arts and design and cooking at the Hilton Hotel back in 1982 when he carved his first ice sculpture for a display at the hotel. He remembers exactly what it was.

“It started out a squirrel and ended up a fish,” he laughs.

Since then he’s carved hundreds of sculptures and participated in dozens of competitions. He took second place in the nation at the National Ice Carving Association competition for his Smokey the Bear and young boy ice fishing sculptures. His favorite is a sculpture called Elijah; it earned him second place in World Championship competition in Alaska.

See complete story in our Jan. 21 print edition.

Tagged as: ice sculpture, small business, Village Inn