Icestock is an all-day, outdoor music festival held annually at

McMurdo Station McMurdo Station is a United States Antarctic research station on the south tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the Unit ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

on or around

New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Wh ...

. It was started in 1989 by three

United States Antarctic Program The United States Antarctic Program (or USAP; formerly known as the United States Antarctic Research Program or USARP and the United States Antarctic Service or USAS) is an organization of the United States government which has presence in the A ...

employees who wanted to host a music festival in the style of

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...

. It is the southern-most music festival in the world.

Overview

The organizers, performers, and attendees of Icestock are all personnel working at McMurdo or nearby

Scott Base Scott Base is a New Zealand Antarctica, Antarctic research station at Pram Point on Ross Island near Mount Erebus in New Zealand's Ross Dependency territorial claim. It was named in honour of Captain Robert Falcon Scott, Royal Navy, RN, leader ...

. Because of the restrictions of the station's working schedule, Icestock falls on the Saturday closest to New Year's Day. Ahead of the event, volunteers erect a temporary stage as well as shacks for serving food and beverages. Anyone who is interested may perform in Icestock. Around a dozen acts perform each year, and the performances last for several hours. People often attend in costume. The celebration culminates with a countdown to the new year. Because it occurs during the Antarctic summer, the entire festival, including the midnight countdown, takes place in sunlight.

Musical acts

There are both group and individual musical performances at Icestock. As there are no permanent residents of Antarctica, musical groups typically form in the weeks preceding the festival. All personnel at the station are employed in other capacities, so music rehearsal takes place outside of the station's 60-hour work week. McMurdo has practice rooms and some instruments, but many musicians bring their own equipment to the station. Musicians perform both original music and covers from a wide variety of genres, including folk, rock, and dance music. Although there have been attempts to record Icestock performances, the music from Icestock is rarely performed or distributed beyond the festival.

Other activities

In addition to music, performances at Icestock have included comedy sketch routines, dramatic performances, and dance routines. Most years people dressed as

Baby New Year The Baby New Year is a personification of the start of the New Year commonly seen in editorial cartoons. He symbolizes the "birth" of the next year and the "passing" of the prior year; in other words, a "rebirth". Baby New Year's purpose varies by ...

will take the stage around midnight. A chili cook-off also forms a central part of Icestock activities.

References

Antarctic culture Music festivals in Antarctica 1989 establishments in Antarctica McMurdo Station {{Coord, -77.8466, 166.6662, format=dms, display=title