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TORONTO SCULPTOR WINS ANNUAL ICE SCULPTURE AGAIN

Toronto, ON, Canada, Feb. 13, 2000 - Ross Navarro, from Paete, Laguna, Philippines, presently based in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada is again a winner at the Toronto Annual Ice Sculpture Contest held here on January 1st, 2000.

Ross won the First Place Trophy, $1,000.00 cash, the Gold medal, and an Inniskillin anniversary ice wine collection. His winning sculpture is titled "Road to the Millennium".

Also, this year, another Paetenian, Jun Paygane won the Silver Medal and the $250.00 cash. The annual contest is managed by Sassafraz and is held annually at the Toronto City Hall Square (Nathan Philipp's Sq).

Ross is a native of Paete, Laguna. Paete is a small village "between a shimmering lake and a mountain range" that overlooks Sierra Madre Mountains. Paete is world famous for woodcarvings and its woodcarvers; the reason why the word Paete originated from the Tagalog word paet which means chisel.

In 1972, Ross worked in a hotel kitchen with his brother Ver Navarro where he saw "incredible carvings" made of edible materials for the hospitality industry.

This inspired Ross to learn more about the culinary arts. He then started to do research and began teaching himself about carving and sculpturing. His brother Ver and his friend Urbano Paygane (also professional woodcarvers from Paete, Laguna) gave their best to assist the younger Ross and showed him all the secrets of sculpting.

Ross then embarked in the culinary arts career and landed at the Manila Hotel in 1976 and worked there till 1979. He then got a contract job in Bermuda (at the Caribbean) for 6 years and moved to his successful and prolific works in the U.S., then to Canada.

Since 1992, Ross has been working for himself, enjoying mostly edible carving and has since established a solid clientele of caterers, hotels, banquet halls, restaurants, etc., for Ice, Vegetable and Fruit carvings. He occasionally does Chocolate, too. You may visit Ross' Web site at:
http://www.rossnav.com and e-email him at rossnavarro@paete.org. by Lee Quesada/PHNO

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