On Frozen Blog

A couple months ago, The Washington Post held its third annual competition involving the ubiquitous springtime marshmallow snacks, Peeps Show III. The results are always impressive and often quite clever. 

Well this year, my wife decided to throw her hat into the ring… or actually, onto the ice. She decided — entirely on her own, I promise you — that a Miracle on Ice diorama would be fun. This, from a woman who’d been to maybe two hockey games before we met. I’m clearly a very lucky guy.

So these photos give you a virtual taste of the marshmallow-y results of USA 4, CCCPeep 3.

A few tidbits about the diorama:

• It’s the celebration as the clock hit 0:00, hence the Peeps falling down and rushing together in celebration.
• The helmets are pistachio nut shells colored with Sharpies.
• Thin wires were bent into skate shapes and pushed into their marshmallow bottoms… ouch.
• We couldn’t find red Peeps for the Soviets… though among the purple,
  yellow, and pink Peeps, the clear choice for the CCCPeeps were “pinkos.”
• My wife knitted the netting; she also drew the half-rink diorama to NHL proportions (sans the crease, something we noticed later).
• The goalposts are drink stirrers bent to shape.

My wife didn’t make it to the finals in this year’s competition; but with over 1,000 entries we aren’t too broken up about it. Still, it was a fun weekend project, and with the June 16 release of Miracle on Blu-ray fast approaching I thought you might enjoy it.

Also, each year the top Peeps contestants have their sugary art on display at Artomatic, DC’s funky and fun art installation that opens each year in a different location. The venue is always a building in between tenants, and the artists are given free rein to decorate the empty halls and rooms. For instance, one year it was in the old Hechinger’s building in Friendship Heights (now a Best Buy).

This year it’s near the Nationals’ park by the Navy Yard metro and runs through July 4. It’s the only art gallery I know of that sells beer — in fact, it’s just about the only venue in that area (outside the ballpark itself) where you can get a beverage.
 
This year Artomatic has three dozen of the best Peeps dioramas, and plenty of other art ranging from the beautiful to the bizarre. So consider a visit to Artomatic for a fun night — after all, we have a while before hockey returns to our fair city, so get out there and see a bit of the D.C. beyond the Phone Booth and the Mall. Just don’t spill any beer on the Peeps!