Ice Sculpture at the Merchandise Mart, and a 20 Year Callback

January 16, 2026

Here’s a fun thing. Yesterday at the Merchandise Mart, there was an ice sculpture on display. It was of Caleb Williams, quarterback for the Chicago Bears, whose nickname is “The Iceman.”

I got to the office fairly early, and there were just a handful of people milling about. But I think this spot got a lot more popular, as the day wore on.

What tickled me the most: I remember an earlier promotion, right at this exact spot in front of the Merchandise Mart, some 20 years ago. This was way back in the day, when it was still a novelty that Starbucks opened up a store in the building.

In 2005, Starbucks had a holiday promotion where they were pushing their “Holiday Blend” coffee. As part of this, they trucked in a tremendous amount of snow, made a snowman (in November), and set up a spot for people to take Polaroid photos.

While the promotion was pretty popular in the morning… by the early afternoon, things had died down. The crowds dispersed, and all that was left was this unsightly snowman… slowly melting in the November light.

I forget who got the idea, but someone proposed going down and tackling the snowman. And Chris, being the champ that he is, volunteered.

I loved the fact that I worked with so many amazing designers. Because in capturing this fantastic event (where my coworker tackled a snowman)… we actually got video from two different angles.

It was strange, to see another wintry installation that also involves tackling in some way. And very strange, to think that these two similar things took place, in the same spot, nearly two decades ago.

I’m sure I’ll be making this joke a lot, with how much I’ll be at the Mart. But time is a flat circle.