NILES — The Hunter Ice Festival comes with an array of aromas for attendees to sniff as they stroll around Niles, admiring ice sculptures and walking into shops.

Savory, spicy scents will come from a chili crawl. Cheese scents will waft from Jim’s Smokin’ Café’s ice smoker.

At On Base Productions, 227 E. Main St., fragrances may be faint, but they will number in the dozens.

From 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, ice festival attendees can stop by to make a candle by mixing fragrances, pouring wax and creating a label with the guidance of Kristin Bivens, owner of Niles-based Wicked Pop Candle Co.

The drop-in event costs $16 for the first 8-ounce candle, then $10 for each additional candle. Pickup of candles will be until 5 p.m.

Bivens has been a longtime attendee of the Hunter Ice Festival, now in its 16th year.

“It’s nice to see people from out of town come to this,” she said. “I feel like, often, in the past, Niles has gotten a rap that there’s not much going on, and in the past few years, that’s changed.”

This year will be her first teaching a candle-making class at the festival and her third time teaching overall.

The Niles resident has experience, however. Bivens used to work at a fragrance shop in South Bend, where she became interested in the science behind candles.

After studying candle creation, and testing her products thoroughly, Bivens launched Wicked Pop in July 2017. Her side business has thoroughly grown since, she said.

The opportunity to teach happened last year, when a member of Make South Bend suggest she host a class. Bivens typically sold her candles there but did not have the equipment needed to teach, so the member let Bivens borrow her supplies.

Bivens said the class turned out successful, so she bought her own equipment and followed with a second class.

Typically, Bivens shares her history with candles, the science behind them and the varieties of waxes and wicks available during her classes. Because of the drop-in, pop-out nature of her Hunter Ice Festival event, however, she will largely focus on the process of making a candle.

After mixing fragrances, participants will pour their scents into a jar, followed by wax from a presto pot with a spout.

Colors cannot be added to candles at this event. Bivens said adding color is a difficult, delicate process.

Then, as the candle settles, participants can either prepare their labels or leave On Base Productions for about an hour to check out other Hunter Ice Festival opportunities.

Once the wax has settled, labels can be applied and décor can be added, from sprinkles to glitter to spices.

“When I do it, I typically have done it on the stove,” Bivens said. “It’s a little different, but it works in the same way, basically.”

Those that miss Wicked Pop’s class can attend its Valentine’s Day class at Iron Shoe Distillery from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 12 and another session 6 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 21 at Make South Bend.

While Bivens has no pop-up shops in the works set up for 2020 yet, she does have a continuous supply at The Brass Eye in Niles.