We haven't enjoyed a Spongebob sighting downtown in a few months, not since I stumbled upon that parking lot sign that made little to no sense. Well, the yellow and squishy one is back, except this time, he's neither yellow nor squishy. He's clear and particularly hard, and alongside his lovable (and comically superior, in my opinion) friend Patrick, he's one of many ice sculptures on display this weekend as part of the Motown Winter Blast.All the fun happens this weekend, from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. This year's Winter Blast includes all the stuff we've gotten used to over the past five years, except for the sledding hill, which has been nixed. (Good call, in my view. The hill was never big enough to be cool.) There's ice skating, marshmallow roasting, lots of food and drink, and live music all over the place. This year, they've added carousels and other rides for the kids to give the whole Campus Martius area more of a carnival midway feel.
If you make it downtown for Winter Blast but find that being cold and looking at things gets old in a hurry, the Kage's crack research team has been hard at work rounding up a list of bars very near the festival. I recommend the Grand Trunk Pub on Woodward, but to see the entire list, click here.
