Yellowknife (Feb 25/04) - Snow King Anthony Foliot had just finished telling a reporter how kids are the snow castle's biggest fans, when another car full of visitors pulled up to the site.

Stephan Folkers, one of the Snow King's serfs, shaves a little snow off the King's crown. - Jennifer Geens/NNSL photo

A small boy ran up and then stopped dead, just staring at the snow castle.

"Go on in," said Foliot. "That's the front door."

That's why Foliot does it every year, he said, he's trying to help sustain that childlike sense of wonder.

"They'll remember this," he said.

We can't say the Snow King has put the finishing touches on his snow castle because when it comes to creating a snow kingdom, the work is never done.

"The building is almost done, but I ran out of snow blocks," he said Tuesday.

He was waiting for the snow he had collected to sit for a while before he carved more blocks.

He'll still be tweaking this year's castle and gardens well into March. And since his creation will vanish when the weather warms, he'll be starting all over again by November, cutting ice for windows.

But the structural work of this year's snow castle, which began Jan. 7, is now complete. The official opening ceremony will be Saturday night at 8 p.m. After a few short speeches, watch for the fireworks.

For the second year, Foliot is building an ice motel that can be rented out for the night. The ice motel should be ready by the end of March.

Foliot said the motel wasn't used much last year because of an odour issue.

"After the kids went in, it just smelled of candy and bubblegum and sweat," he said.

The snow theatre still lacks a roof but there are plans for a heated stage and canteen inside its icy walls.

In this year's puppet show, Chief Chinook visits the Snow King and the whole thing will be in iambic pentameter (that's Shakespearean rhythm).

New this year is a French translation of the puppet show. How does "The Snow King's Puppet Show" translate?

"I think it comes out as "les marionettes du roi," said Foliot.

One of Foliot's big concerns, aside from the intricacies of snow architecture, is making the festival self-sustaining and less dependent on government grants.

The festival receives money from the government of the NWT and from the City of Yellowknife, but is now cultivating private sponsorship. This year there's also a gift shop and a $5 key chain that grants you admission to the site for the whole month.

Dave Osteryk has created another snow dragon to guard the castle, but Foliot also has his own way of protecting his creation.

He's made a number of snow pillars on the outskirts of the snow kingdom to which dogs seem to be irresistibly drawn. That way, they've emptied their bladders before they reach the castle, he pointed out.