Rainbow-colored ice cascades above Route 119 in Connellsville
Ice Art
Colorful ice formations line the hillside of Buttermore Blvd. in Connellsville, near the intersection of Buttermore Blvd. and Rt. 119N, as seen on Friday, Jan. 5, 2018
Driving along Route 119 near Connellsville, motorists can see green, blue and red ice cascading down the side of a cliff along Buttermore Boulevard.
While a guess might be that it's a reaction to minerals in the ground or other natural sources, the actual source of the landscape art is two people, an eyewitness said.
Pam Spataro was driving home from her job at Miedel's Restaurant this week when she saw them at the cliff with a bucket full of whatever they use to color the ice and a device to spray it on the cliff.
"I thought it was cool," she said.
A likely source for the coloring is food dye.
Gus Tishuk, 67, of Bangor, Pa., has been coloring the ice along Riverton Road in Upper Mount Bethel, Northampton County, for years.
He picked up the ice-dyeing practice from his wife Arlene's family.
"Her relatives dyed the ice, and their relatives dyed it before them," he said. "I do it because I keep the tradition going."
He goes to a restaurant supply store and buys food coloring in quarts for $4 to $5 apiece, and told his wife Friday that it was time to go shopping because he was out of everything except yellow.
"If I had my food coloring, I'd be doing it today," he said.
When he's out at the ice fall using a garden pump sprayer to color the ice, people honk their horns, give him a thumbs-up and stop to take pictures.
"I never met anyone who didn't like it," he said.
A winter enthusiast, Tishuk and several friends plan to spend Saturday creating and then playing a nine-hole golf course on a nearby 38-acre lake.
"We haven't done this for a couple of years because the lake hasn't frozen enough," he said.
Tishuk said he hasn't fielded any inquires from people in Western Pennsylvania about ice dyeing, so he doesn't have a clue as to who colored the winter landscape near Connellsville.
"But I'm glad they did it," he said.
Brian Bowling is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-850-1218, bbowling@tribweb.com or via Twitter @TribBrian.
