This time of year, people are used to seeing hunks of ice along the banks of the Penobscot River. But giant ice cubes are a different story.

On Friday, as part of Brewer’s first Family Winterfest, New Hampshire-based ice sculptor Steve Griffiths will haul in 20 300-pound blocks of clear ice to the waterfront near the Muddy Rudder restaurant. Griffiths and his business partner, Jeff Day, will work from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday to transform them into sculptures that represent Brewer’s ties to the river – a ship’s helm and an anchor – as well as a snowflake to symbolize the festival.

“It’s an addicting thing that we do here,” Griffiths said. “It’s fun – that’s why we do it.”

The Berlin, N.H., native learned how to carve ice while he was in culinary school. After graduating in 1993, he went on to work in the hotel-resort business, and has since returned to Berlin to teach culinary arts classes at New Hampshire Community Technical College. He and Day spend most winter weekends carving sculptures for such events as the Brewer Family Winterfest and the U.S. Open snowboarding championship at Stratton Mountain in Vermont.

“We do big projects like this in the winter,” Griffiths said. “We’re hoping this will get the juices flowing for the town.”

Plans are in the works to designate the Brewer festival as a sanctioned event of the National Ice Carving Association, which draws members from around the country. City officials hope that in the future, carvers will make Brewer a destination, and in turn, the festival will grow.

“Our real goal here is to eventually turn this into an ice sculpture competition,” said Donna Thornton, chairwoman of Brewer’s Penobscot Landing Advisory Committee, which promotes the city’s waterfront redevelopment. “We want to grow this over time to make this a big event for us in the winter.”

It already has expanded from initial plans. It all started when Chris Florey, a server at the Muddy Rudder restaurant, suggested placing ice sculptures outside for diners to look at.

“We thought it was such a good idea that we took it to the City Council,” said Tom Workman, the restaurant’s manager. “It went from us doing it on our own to a full-scale event. The city wants the riverfront area to be a four-season type of environment for area people and the citizens of Brewer.”

The council and the Penobscot Landing Advisory Committee used the ice sculptures as a starting point for a citywide event. Rather than have an ice carving competition this year, the Winterfest will feature a snow creation contest for children and adults from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Doyle Field, next to the Brewer Auditorium. The contest is not limited to Brewer residents.

Teams of up to 10 people will vie for cash prizes of $500, $250 and $100 for first-, second-, and third-place entries, respectively, and two $50 honorable mention prizes. Each snow creation will be judged on the age of the participants, creativity and the final product. In addition, each participant’s name will be entered into a raffle to win an X-Box video game system, a 3-foot sub from Subway, and other prizes.

Area businesses have donated a total of $6,000 in cash and services, and the event’s major sponsors include the Muddy Rudder, Transtech Industries, Wal-Mart and Downeast Toyota. At the ice sculpting area, festival-goers will be able to sip free hot chocolate provided by the Muddy Rudder, which will collect donations for Manna Ministries in Bangor. A “Winterfest Cafe” will be set up inside the Brewer Auditorium, as well.

“It is actually going to be a citywide event for the families of Brewer,” Workman said.

In the future, city officials hope to have the whole festival on the waterfront, with snowshoe competitions as the riverfront trail system develops, an ice carving competition, the snow creation contest and other events. They also hope this will be the first of many Penobscot Landing events.

“The hardest season of the year to plan an event is winter,” said Andrew Sachs, the city’s development director. “The other ones will be easy.”