Saturday, February 26, 2011

Thinning Snowmen - is winter slowing down?

Hmmmmmmm, maybe Spring is getting closer by the looks of
this latest creation that seems to be getting "less round."

[photo by DH Tews © 2011 ]

Thanks you to our friend DH who sent us this "disappearing"
snowman to post for the blog!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

The Return of Snowzilla in Alaska

He's back living large in Anchorage!
As reported in Alaska Magazine on online by Sr. Editor Rebecca Luczycki

Snowzilla is back again this winter, having waited until early 2011
to make his appearance because of poor snow conditions. However the
snow is here and once again, people are coming to see the famous Snowzilla,
a 25-foot-high snowman recently built in the front yard of Billy Powers’ home.

Photo by Tim Woody

Snowzilla first appeared on Powers’ lawn in 2005. Back then, he was a mere
16 feet tall and featured a corncob pipe, a carrot nose and two eyes made out of
beer bottles. As the construction gained popularity, Powers played to his fans and
increased the size of the snowman each year until it reached 25 feet in 2008.

This large Anchorage winter oddity also gives a nod to a symbol of Alaska civil
disobedience enacted in snow.

You can read more about about Snowzilla's great back story at his website and
also at Alaska Magazine.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Passing of Dennis Oppenheim: A Snowman Creator Remembered

In Memorium of artist Dennis Oppenheim, who died in
New York on January 21, 2011

A man whose artwork encompasses many decades, styles and materials.
G. Roger Denson wrote a beautiful obit that can read at the
Huffington Post link.


We always felt very fortunate to receive his permission to publish this photo
in The History of the Snowman book. His snowmen were unlike any others.

Snowman Factory [© 2010 Dennis Oppenheim Studio]

The man and his creativity will be greatly missed.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Wow! 35 Ft Snowman with Swimming Pool Hat!

CHAMPION, NY - an upstate New York man and
his family and friends
made the best of the snow during
the current storms and built a snowman -
towering at 35'.

Well that is a creative way to use your summer inflatable pool
during the winter months!



[photo Copyright 2011 CNN]
Vernon Scoville, one of the builders, said they were inspired by similar snowmen
on the internet. "Somebody said something about how they saw one on
the internet so high, 15' or something. I said, 'we can do better than that,"

Scoville said.

The group has been building giant snowmen for a few years now,
but the 35' tall behemoth this year is their largest, which they named B.A.

Scoville said it was a team effort with lots of heavy lifting involved:
"20 of us working and we had trucks going back and forth with dump trailers
bringing snow to us. We had a guy pushing it up to another guy that's snow
blowing it out to the elevator. There were probably eight people up on the
snowman shoveling around it and packing it..."

B.A. has racing tires for buttons, oil barrel lids for eyes, a road cone for a nose
and a swimming pool for a top hat.

Dozens of people have stopped by the snowman for a picture or two and it has
become somewhat of a tourist spot. Scoville said he was surprised by the
number of visitors the snowman had received.

Scoville said about 50 people in all helped build the snowman this year.
He expressed his gratitude for their help and said he never could have done it alone.

You can view the video at the local ABC news video link here.

Copyright 2011 CNN. Full story at http://www.kplctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13948913

Friday, February 4, 2011

Snowman Talk in Massachusetts

North Adams, MA–On Saturday, February 05, The Department of Conservation & Recreation’s Visitors Museum will present an illustrated lecture about snowman history at 3pm.

"Besides skiers, there is only one person who loves the winter we have had and that is “The Flakiest Guy Around” – the snowman. This illustrated lecture will explore the science, history and culture of one of our most enduring and endearing winter icons. No one really knows how or when the idea of a snowman occurred to a human but the invention has been a lasting one even if the actual snowman itself is not. In a winter when we have enough snow to build a million such creatures this program will probably inspire you to build at least one. Western Gateway Heritage State Park is located in North Adams south of the Hadley Overpass on Route 8. The Visitors Museum is building #4. Information: 413-663-6312."

I (Bob Eckstein, author of the History of the Snowman) won't be there personally, as this is an independent thing but I've been informed the talk is based on the research from my book. That said, it should be very interesting.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Snowman Making Champion of the Free World contest

Zeeland, Michigan takes 2nd Place in Snowman Making
Champion of the Free World
Contest

As reported by Gary Brower on the HollandSentinel.com

[photo by Gary Brower © 2011]
http://www.hollandsentinel.com/photo/x517529430/Snowman-Making-Champion-of-the-Free-World-contest?foto=7

Zeeland’s new Wintervention festival was a friendly competition against
the cities of St. Clair, Saline and Sault Ste. Marie to see who could
build the most snowmen in two hours.

It was quantity over quality as 50 people at a time packed snow into buckets
and garbage cans along Main Street, “smooshed” it with mallets and flipped
them on top of each other with hopes the snow would hold together.

Snowmen had to be at least 4 feet tall. Decorations didn’t matter, according to rules.

The winner taking home a snowman trophy carved from native Michigan lumber.

The cities used teams of up to 50 people to build as many snowmen as possible
during a two-hour window. Zeeland hosted its portion of the event from
11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Main Avenue with the city street department trucking in snow
into the shopping district for the competition.

This story was also reported by Ron Cammel of The Grand Rapids Press on mlive.com

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