NILES, Mich. -- The Hunter Ice Festival will return to downtown Niles starting on Friday at 4 p.m., according to the official Facebook event page.

The family-friendly is described by organizers as a celebration of art, community, and ice.

"Today we're preparing for the hunter Ice Festival. We're getting a lot of blocks trimmed out, cleaned out, and getting ready to sculpt for the festival on Friday and Saturday," said sculptor Dean DeMarais.

"[Tuesday] we're kind of in the day one phase, or step one phase. We're into day two. We take a lot of the blocks from raw form, like you see here behind me, and we'll stack them up, arrange them in different positions so we can have the pieces prepared for a final easier to handle when they're stacked up and already fused together. As you can see, some of the blocks behind me are three. Four will be three and four blocks tall, but on Saturday, we'll be live carving out on the streets, up and down Main Street here on a at 10 o'clock, and we'll be carving again underneath the pavilion at five o'clock."

Organizers say attendees can expect to witness ice sculptures expertly crafted by world-class artists.

You'll be able to Interact with the carvers, play games, and support local downtown businesses all weekend.

The Fire and Ice event will take place on Friday at 7 p.m. in Riverfront Park behind Wonderland Cinema and Front Street Pizza.

On Saturday evening, the ice carving competition will be held at the Riverfront amphitheater starting at 4:30 p.m.

The festivities will continue through Sunday.

You can find more information and updates on the official Facebook event page.