BETHEL – All it took to get Ed Jarrett hooked on ice sculpting was a teacher with a chain saw and a block of ice.

That was 27 years ago when Jarrett, a Maine native and current Falmouth resident, was a student at Johnson and Wales University in Providence, R.I., majoring in culinary arts.

“One block and 17 kids go at it,” said Jarrett of the day when students learn to carve a table centerpiece. A day that may have marked a turning point in his career.

Today Jarrett has turned that experience into a mission to introduce the art of snow and ice sculpture to people of all ages and abilities throughout Maine.

As executive director of the Maine Snow and Ice Sculpting Foundation – the group that will bring sculptors from Canada, Vermont and even Alaska to Bethel to display their craft at Bethel’s upcoming WinterFest – Jarrett has developed and implemented his vision throughout the state in various events.

The foundation was founded in 2001, after Jarrett returned from 15 years in Rhode Island working in the hospitality field to help develop a winter festival in Maine, when he discovered no one in the state was involved in the art of ice and snow sculpture.

Seven years later, the foundation offers everything from apprentice ice carving programs to running the Maine’s Snow Sculpting Championship and ice and snow sculpting at other high-profile events, including the upcoming Bethel and Portland winter festivals.

Bethel Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Robin Zinchuk said the chamber came up with the idea after last year’s successful world’s tallest snowwoman creation. She said the idea was initiated by a Bethel woman who interned for Jarrett and suggested the ice and snow sculptures.

“I got in touch with him (Jarrett) in August. He came up, and we put the wheels in motion,” said Zinchuk.

Supervising the event is not easy, said Jarrett. On Monday, high winds blew down the 140-foot-long refrigerated tent that had just been put up and will eventually house the sculptures.

“I should have watered down the base,” said Jarrett of the tent whose safety locks snapped. Watering the base freezes it into the ground, he explained.

With the tent back up, volunteers will spend the next few days blowing snow into the forms, readying the site for the sculptors who will arrive New Year’s Day and begin carving on Friday, Jan. 2. Public viewing of the sculptures will begin a week later on Jan. 9 and run through the weekend of Jan. 19.

At WinterFest, Jarrett will work not only with professional sculptors but also with apprentices from places like Vermont and Massachusetts. “They’ll be a potluck of carvers from a good distance to Bethel,” he said.

Several free snow and ice sculpting demonstrations will be held on a snow stage, located next to the tent, along with a field of snow people looking for help with the latest winter fashions.

Jarrett’s sculpting spills over to the other areas, including wood carving and sand sculptures.

He holds the world’s record for tallest sandcastle at nearly 32 feet high, the second time he has held the record in eight years. His sculpture is pictured in the 2009 “Guinness Book of Records.”

While Jarrett was formally trained in culinary arts, it is not something he has practiced full time recently, leaning instead more toward the management end of the hospitality field. He even tried a short stint at the Chebeaque Island Inn last summer.

“I think my wife misses it more than me,” he said of his cooking skills.

From Bethel, Jarrett will head immediately to Portland where he will supervise ice and snow sculpting activities at that city’s winter fest.