Photo/Illutration A scene from the 2020 Sapporo Snow Festival in Sapporo’s Chuo Ward (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

SAPPORO--The annual Sapporo Snow Festival, one of the nation’s biggest winter events, is to be held online for the second straight year due to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in Hokkaido after the turn of the year, the executive committee announced.

Held annually since 1950, Hokkaido’s winter tradition was due to take place Feb. 5-12 in the city’s Odori Koen park for the first time in two years. Past annual attractions, sometimes featuring more than 300 ice and snow sculptures of pop culture figures and famous landmarks, drew more than 2 million visitors, both domestic and from overseas.

Initially, it was planned to display only 10 smaller-sized statues instead of massive ones that traditionally draw gasps from visitors.

Although snow was transported to the park to build the sculptures, the works in progress will be demolished, the committee said.

Instead, a video to be posted Feb. 5-28 on the committee's official website will show how a snow statue is created at another location. However, details remain under wraps for the time being.

A photo contest will also be held on the website, and locally produced crafts and other items will be sold online.

“We have no choice but to cancel an event that traditionally attracts a huge number of people in light of the unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases across the country,” Sapporo Mayor Katsuhiro Akimoto said. “We, in tandem with the executive committee, are trying to come up with ways to entertain online participants.”

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