Today's Snowman

Frosty Arrested at Xmas Parade?!"

noreply@blogger.com (Snowman Expert) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:48:00 +0000

"Frosty" arrested for Assault and Disorderly Conduct during Chestertown holiday parade.

Kevin Walsh, a 52-year-old Maryland man dressed as Frosty the Snowman was busted Saturday after he made a "kicking motion” at a police K-9 dog during a Christmas parade in Chestertown, MD, according to cops.

Kevin Walsh still dressed as Frosty for his mug shot but was later
realeased on his own recognizance.

The police said that Walsh struck a police officer in the face while he was removing his Frosty costume head while simultaneously cursing at the police officer "You can't !$?%&! tell me what to do ...this is !$?%&! harassment."

Following this outburst, Walsh was taken to the ground and handcuffed.

Maryland police officers arrest a man identified as Kevin Walsh dressed as
Frosty the Snowman at a Christmas parade on Nov. 26. (Source: CNN)

Walsh seems to have a history of run-ins with the law including previous charges for assault and disorderly conduct. He currently is banned from the Chestertown Town Hall.

As a 10 year "Frosty the Snowman" veteran of the Chestertown Christmas Parade, Walsh's comment to his arrest was "Snowmen are good; they should not be arrested..."

In the generous spirit of the holiday season it seems that the town agreed with Walsh's statement, as they was invited back to next years Christmas parade, hopefully with better behavior.

More of this story can be read at the WBOC 16 news site

Thanksgiving time is here....

noreply@blogger.com (Snowman Expert) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:13:00 +0000

So bring on those cranberry snowmen!

If you have any holiday snowmen of your own that you
would like to share, we would love to see them!

The Shilling Snowman is Back! and it's only November...

noreply@blogger.com (Snowman Expert) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 02:33:00 +0000

It feels like an early snowman siting.
In NYC he is already being put to work selling
things... and Black Friday is still a week away.

photo by Tamar Stone 2011

Unseasonally warm... but the snowmen are coming!

noreply@blogger.com (Snowman Expert) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 22:49:00 +0000

The weather may be warm... but we just received
our first snowman [droppings] in the mail...

These are really quite special and we can't say
THANKS enough to David and David of the fabulous
Outsider Tart Bakery in London who sent them to us.
These guys also have a great new baking book out
"Baked in America" that you can find at Amazon
(just in time for the holidays!)

Who knew these little pieces could make our dreams sweeter!

We recently were sent this link to the

South Whidbey Record in Washington state,

which was talking about a snowman show:

Frostys of all shapes, sizes. materials seen in the collection of Johanna Marquis on display at the Freeland Library.
photo: Patricia Duff / South Whidbey Record

Imagine our dismay to learn that this show was from December
2008. It was created from the collection of artist/collector Johanna Marquis
who says: “I began the collection about 20 years ago...I’ve always been
intrigued by the innocence and fun of making snowmen and snow queens
while growing up in the mighty woods of winter in northern Wisconsin.”

It was nice to see that the snowman expert was quoted for the
article - Eckstein chose the subject, he said, because the snowman
holds one of life’s mysteries — stories that reveal a dark rich history.

The making of snowmen is a form of folk art that has been carried on
since the time of the caveman, he writes, as it is man’s instinct to want
to do two main things: to depict themselves in art and to do what man
has always done, stack one thing on top of the other.

Snowmen, Eckstein said, have always been a reflection of the period and
the issues of the day; a sort of benchmark for the times.
It’s not surprising then that an artist would find Frosty so fascinating.

If you have any snowman sightings - please send them our way -
we'd love to be able to post them on the Today's Snowman blog.

Welcome Snow in October?!

noreply@blogger.com (Snowman Expert) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 18:37:00 +0000

In honor of the snow today in NYC,

we decided to post a few more of June Dilley's
Sno-Buddies in WA state...

..and don't forget to check out June's
super fun blog: http://snowbuddies.wordpress.com/

It's not winter yet...but the snowmen are coming!

noreply@blogger.com (Snowman Expert) — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 23:52:00 +0000

June Dilley - one great Sno-Buddy
builder in WA!

What a great discovery when we came
across June's super fun blog:
http://snowbuddies.wordpress.com/

So many snowmen and women doing so
many things... (hey they seem just like us!)
and it really gets you in the mood for the
upcoming winter season.

June says about these creations: I made all of the snowpeople
myself out of real snow. I lived in AK most of my life and always made
the "annual" snowman but at the age of 50 or around there I started my
"hobby" of snowman creating in earnest. Two years ago I moved to WA
state but still make my snowbuddies whenever I get half a chance.
I collect props all year long at thrift stores and garage sales and then
sit around and wait for it to start snowing.

Here are a few of our favorites ...and more will be posted as the
season goes on [and of course you can see more at Junes's blog].

Grab your cards... It's Bingo Time!

[photo by June Dilley © 2011]

Feeding time...

[photo by June Dilley © 2011]

... and of course... Playtime.

It's A Parade of Snowmen at the US Patent Office

noreply@blogger.com (Snowman Expert) — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 00:44:00 +0000

Who knew you could find a bunch of snowmen
in the US Patent Office...but there they are!

ABSTRACT US Patent # 8011991
for the Apparatus for facilitating the construction of a snow man/woman:

A building component for facilitating a construction of a snow man/woman.
A spherically-shaped body is provided that has an outer surface and an interior,
the interior substantially lighter than when the interior is filled with snow.
An adhesion surface is provided on the outer surface of the spherically-shaped
body that substantially increases the ability of the outer surface to adhere
snow to the spherically-shaped body.
The spherically-shaped body and adhesion surface form a building component
for facilitating the construction of the snow man/woman. The adhesion surface
may be an electrically charged surface in combination with a texture or alone.
The electric charge may be generated by a generator that may be disposed
with the body.

[and that's just the beginning -
who thought something built
out of snow with 3 balls would
be so complicated!]

Of course, if you don't have any of the natural white stuff around - you
can always use this alternative of the "Instant Snowman"
US Patent # 7178342:

An artificial snowman system for to allow a user to enjoy a snowman
in climates that may not support snow. The artificial snowman system
includes a form assembly being for resting on a support surface.
A conduit is coupled to the form assembly whereby the conduit is coiled
around an exterior of the form assembly.

A refrigeration assembly is coupled to the conduit whereby
the refrigeration assembly is in fluid communication with the conduit.
The refrigeration assembly is for pumping refrigerant through the conduit
whereby the conduit is cooled by the refrigerant to cool air around the
conduit and freeze the moisture in the air to the conduit to provide
the form assembly with the appearance of being made of snow.

[really? by freezing the moisture in the air to the conduit to provide
the form assembly with the appearance of being made of snow.]

Now this US Patent #5632926 addresses the problem of those physical
injuries that happen while making a snowman out in the snow - this
Snowman Mold should solve all those problems as described:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Typically, snowmen constructed subsequent to snow is a procedure effected
by the rolling of various balls of snow which are subsequently positioned
in a vertically aligned relationship. The instant invention eliminates need to
lift such balls of snow which may result in various physical injury to individuals
and to this end, the instant invention substantially fulfills this need.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The snowman mold of the invention includes a plurality of sections that
are integral relative to one another, but each including relative door
structure to permit the removal of the mold structure or alternatively
maintain the mold structure in place.

[I can tell already this is just the tip of the snowmen at the
Patent Office and we'll be back once we spend some more time
in the patent archives.]

As always - if you have any snowman we would love to see them
(in any season) Just send them our way!

A Snowman Greetings from the 154th Harford Fair in PA!

noreply@blogger.com (Snowman Expert) — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 04:46:00 +0000

A few good snowmen were showing up
at the Harford Fair in Harford, PA.

First there was the friendly cow #228 - named Snowman!

Then there were these great paintings in the art barn done

by some very creative kindergartners.

If you happen to be in the Scranton area, it's worth the visit

to the fair. In addition to finding some interesting snowmen
throughout the day - they have many types of food that are fried -
things you wouldn't even probably think of frying yourself...
but now you can have the chance to try them out at the fair.

You can read more about the Harford Fair here

A Snowman in Outer Space

noreply@blogger.com (Snowman Expert) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 23:27:00 +0000

Asteroid Vesta's images show cosmic snowman

The Hubble Space Telescope observed the asteroid Vesta back in 1994.

At the time is was 251 million kilometers from Earth. This asteroid, Vesta,
is the most geologically diverse asteroid. Hubble telescopes have revealed
evidence that the asteroid once had lava flowing on it.

NASA's Dawn spacecraft entered orbit around Vesta in July and has since
been studying the asteroid. The spacecraft began orbiting Vesta on July 15
and will continue to do so for a year. After, Dawn will then do some asteroid
hopping where it will encounter Ceres.

Vesta is the brightest asteroid in our solar system and measures around 330
miles across (approximately the length of Arizona).

Like most asteroids, Vesta lives between the belt of Mars and Jupiter.

Vesta is similar to the Earth's moon, with lava beds and debris.
There is a flattened area on one end of Vesta, which was created by a
giant collision billions of years ago.

According to NASA:

"Vesta and the recently categorized dwarf planet Ceres have been selected
because, while both speak to conditions and processes early in the formation
of the solar system, they developed into two different kinds of bodies.
Vesta is a dry, differentiated object with a surface that shows signs of resurfacing.
It resembles the rocky bodies of the inner solar system, including Earth."

Ceres, by contrast, has a primitive surface containing water-bearing minerals,
and may possess a weak atmosphere. It appears to have many similarities to the
large icy moons of the outer solar system.

"Ceres and Vesta are the two most massive residents of the asteroid belt.
Vesta is a rocky body, while Ceres is believed to contain large quantities of ice."

Facts about Vesta:

--Discovered: March 29, 1807 by Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers of Germany
(fourth asteroid discovered)
--Dimensions: About 578 by 560 by 458 kilometers (359 by 348 by 285 miles)
--Shape: Nearly spheroid, with a massive chunk out of the south pole
--Rotation: Once every 5 hours, 20 minutes
--At the asteroid's south pole is a giant crater - 460 kilometers (285 miles)
across and 13 kilometers (8 miles) deep.

As you can see - a "snowman" seems to be taking shape on Vesta -
a perfect cooling image in this summer heat.

NASA's Dawn spacecraft obtained this image of the giant asteroid Vesta with its
framing camera on July 24, 2011.
Source: NASA

In this image, obtained by the framing camera on NASA's Dawn spacecraft,
a set of three craters, informally nicknamed "Snowman" by the camera's team members,
is located in the northern hemisphere of Vesta.

The image was taken on July 24, 2011, from a distance of about 3,200 miles (5,200 kilometers).
Source: Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltec / UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

You can read more about this story here

Snowmen Forecasts for June!

noreply@blogger.com (Snowman Expert) — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 14:57:00 +0000

Just because it's the summer doesn't mean there
are not any snowmen around....

photo by: http://img4.coastalliving.com/i/2008/01/SS-snowman1024.jpg

We figured it would be a slow news day since lately it feels like the middle of
summer, but low and behold - there seems to be snowmen half way around
the world in Auckland, New Zealand:

In what is described as a once in a lifetime event, a migration of snowmen is
making its way to Auckland. A sighting has been reported in Bairds Road in
Otahuhu and additional snowmen have been tracked to central Auckland.

Snowmen are seldom seen in Auckland, which rarely sees temperatures below
zero degrees Celsius, and have traditionally appeared in the North Island’s
Central Plateau and parts of the South Island.

This is an unusual migratory path for the predominantly alpine-bound characters,
and its rare to see them in an urban habitat in New Zealand, says Honor Dillon,
Export 33 brand manager and part-time snowman enthusiast.

Honor continues: Snowmen are docile, friendly and will melt your heart...
that is before they themselves melt and disappear into Auckland footpaths.

As it turns out, all the snowy news isn't just based in New Zealand, in today's NY Times,
it was reported that 15 feet of snow has fallen in Utah.

We have to believe that somewhere on those mountains, one of those short- sporting
skier's will be making a snowman (and if they do - we would love to see a photo of it!).

Of course, if any of our reader's see or create any summer snowmen, we would love
to be able to post them to this blog and share them with our snowmen community.

Happy Easter!

noreply@blogger.com (Snowman Expert) — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 21:00:00 +0000

The snowmen may have melted...but in the spirit
of the holiday, we came across what could be a cousin
to the snowman...a Snow-rabbit.

[photo by Chip Clark © 1978 ]
Visitors build a snow-rabbit on The Mall in Washington with the Smithsonian
Institution Building in the background.

From the Smithsonian Catalog: Link to data base record
Subject: Smithsonian Institution Building (Washington, D.C.)
Standard number: 94-2875
Notes: Featured in TORCH, March 1978

Snowmen burn in Europe...and women add fuel to the fire for the first time in history.

noreply@blogger.com (Snowman Expert) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 14:00:00 +0000

It's a "Böögg " kind of day in Zurich for the start of Spring...
Zurich’s spring festival, the Sechseläuten, has long been the preserve
of the city’s all-male guilds. This year, for the first time ever,
women have been invited.

[first reported by by Isobel Leybold-Johnson, swissinfo.ch]

Women dressed to burn in medieval costumes [AP Photo/ Keystone]

Welcome to the Sechseläuten festival...
Where the women and snowmen were separated.
Snowman Burning Day is a festival to mark the end of winter and
welcome spring. It's a way to celebrate the change of the seasons.

The Sechseläuten festival in its current form dates back to 1867.
It derives its name from the fact that at the spring equinox the bells
of Zurich's main cathedral would toll vespers again at six o'clock to
announce the end of the working day. In winter time the working
day lasted only until five o'clock due to early dusk.

The Fraumünster Association has been fighting for 22 years to be
able to process alongside the men. But the battle is not over yet.

A premiere is the fact that women will be allowed to take part in
the procession alongside the 26 male guilds – albeit as guests.
The Fraumünster Association will march in second position
behind the Weggen guild.

“The Fraumünster Association has existed for 22 years and for
ten years we have had official permission to march before the
main procession...We are really happy that we can now be
integrated into the main procession and be part of the Zurich
cultural landscape.” the association’s president Regula Zweifel
told swissinfo.ch.

The invitation, however, is only extended to 2011 and does not
necessarily foresee the association – which not officially a guild –
becoming a Sechseläuten fixture.

Why the guilds, once powerful associations but now more like clubs, have
been so against women taking part still remains partly a mystery to Zweifel.

“I think the guilds have their own rituals which don’t really fit in with
women’s way of living and it could be that they simply want to keep
themselves to themselves,” she said.

So what's behind all these exploding Swiss snowmen?
One of the Fraumünster Association main events is its annual medieval
market showcasing arts and crafts of the times.

Swiss Burning Snowman [AP Photo/Patrick B. Kraemer, Keystone]

Monday’s festival takes the form of a colourful parade through
the city to the Sechseläuten square. It is here that the Böögg –
a snowman figure representing winter whose head is stuffed with
explosives – will be set on fire in the evening. According to tradition,
the shorter it takes for the Böögg to explode, the better the summer.

This climax of the holiday of burning of Winter in effigy, in the form of
the Böögg, a figure of a snowman prepared with explosives is based on
the custom of burning a rag doll called Böögg predates the Sechseläuten.
A Böögg (cognate to bogey) was originally a masked character doing
mischief and frightening children during the carnival season.

This holiday is celebrated by the Swiss as well as the Americans.
In some cultures, they use the burning patterns to determine the
type of summer they will have. Zurich has rung in the spring with
its traditional Sechseläuten (six bells) festivities, culminating with
the symbolic burning of the Böögg snowman.

Snowman as a Weather oracle
Popular tradition has it that the time between the lighting of the pyre
and the explosion of the Böögg`s head is indicative of the coming
summer: a quick explosion promises a warm, sunny summer,
a drawn-out burning a cold and rainy one. The shortest time on
record is 5:07 minutes in 1974, and the longest in 2001 with 26:23.
wikipedia

But back to the women...What has this tradition have to do
with women participating in all the exploding fun?
Andreas Weidmann, spokesman for the Sechseläuten, said that the
invitation came in recognition of the association’s work at the market
and in promoting the role of women of historical importance.

He pointed to history to explain why women were still not allowed to
fully join the parade.

“At the beginning guilds were men’s associations made up of master
craftsmen and women were also involved... Later the guilds became
mainly the preserve of men – this is also the case in other areas of life,
there are also female-only associations – and this is a tradition which
is being kept alive in Zurich,” he told swissinfo.ch.

As for the question of continuing opposition to women taking part,
Weidmann pointed to the opinion process taking place in the guilds.
A final decision is expected in autumn, he said.

For more on this story see the link at swissinfo.ch

___________________________________

The Snowman International Airport is Open!

noreply@blogger.com (Snowman Expert) — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 23:28:00 +0000

Greetings from the Snowman International Airport...
in Norway!

[Photo: NRK]: http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/3/25/92545/1590/travel/Yes%2C+This+Exists%3A+
Snowman+International+Airport]

Bardufoss Airport sits pretty close to the top of Norway, so it really doesn’t
get that much airplane action throughout the year. That’s why the folks in
the marketing department decided to rebrand the airport and rename it the
"Snowman International Airport."

The airport officials are hoping that this can get their little airport on the map.
Technically, it’s still going to be called Bardufoss Airport— BDU for those
collecting airport codes—but for all other purposes this is the airport where
snowmen (and snow-women) catch their flights for all those business trips.

A charter flight from the UK landed over the weekend to check it out,
but as of now, there’s no transatlantic service planned to and from the airport.

Unfortunately, not all are pleased with the name change; some locals are
taking the stance that the idea is tasteless and ridiculous. It seems that this
re-naming has nothing to do history and culture of the region...but hey - in the
world of snowmen...we'd love to get a t-shirt from the airport gift shop!

This story was first posted at: http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/3/25/92545/1590/travel/Yes%2C+This+Exists%3A+Snowman+International+Airport

It's National Burn A Snowman Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Snowman Expert) — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 15:50:00 +0000

Somewhere in the US snowmen are burning...
and Welcoming Spring!
Snowman Burning Day was first celebrated in March of 1971 at
LSSU by the Unicorn Hunters. It was created to celebrate the
transition from winter to spring.

[photo from http://www.gone-ta-pott.com/national_snowman_burning_day.html]

Snowmen are made out of wood, paper destined for the recycling bin, along
with some straw, wire and some paint. They are usually husky and
stand 10 to 12 feet tall.

The burning takes its inspiration from the Rose Sunday Festival in
Weinheim-an-der-Bergstrasse, Germany. In the festival, a parade passes
through town to a central location, where the mayor makes a proposal to
the town's children. If the children are good, study, obey their parents and
work hard, he will order the (straw) snowman to be burned, and spring will
officially arrive. After the children yell their approval and make their promise,
the snowman is burned.

Some people hold that rising smoke rising from the fire is supposed to ward
off blizzards and usher in spring-like weather. The Unicorn Hunters capitalized
on this theory during the second or third year of the event. At that time,
after the snowman was burned, a blizzard passed through the eastern
Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Peninsula but missed Sault Ste. Marie.

You can read more about this holiday (and see some historical pictures
and great videos!) at Lake Superior State University website:
http://www.lssu.edu/snowman/

Union Until Thaw?

noreply@blogger.com (Snowman Expert) — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 02:53:00 +0000

Snowmen come out to protest in Capitol Square Wisconsin.
from: http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/gadgets-electronics/photos/eco-photos-of-the-week-feb-27-march-5/snowman-union

[photo: OnTask/Flickr]

For the past two weeks, the city has been the site of extended pro-union protests
in an effort to maintain collective bargaining rights that may be stripped away
under proposed legislation.

Thank you to our friend DH who sent us this story!

Spring is coming, but some snowmen are Growing!

noreply@blogger.com (Snowman Expert) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 23:46:00 +0000

Giant Snowman Shows Up in Washington State...
The weather is warming up on the east coast, but the snowmen
are still very large out west!
as reported by SUSAN WYATT / KING 5 News
http://www.king5.com/news/Giant-snowman-shows-up-in-Darrington-yard-117248858.html

[photo by Kirristi Trickett © 2011 ]
Residents of Darrington, Washington were delighted to find a huge snowman
in the front yard of a home. The snowman, with a rope for a mouth and pie-tin eyes,
stands at least 15 feet tall.

Kirristi Trickett snapped a photo of his son Aiden to illustrate the enormity of
the jolly giant. "The eyes light up at night," she said.

[photo by Kirristi Trickett © 2011 ]
Darrington, about 75 miles north of Seattle, was buried under
four feet of snow in recent storms.

Thinning Snowmen - is winter slowing down?

noreply@blogger.com (Snowman Expert) — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 21:31:00 +0000

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!

The Return of Snowzilla in Alaska

noreply@blogger.com (Snowman Expert) — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 04:47:00 +0000

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.

Passing of Dennis Oppenheim: A Snowman Creator Remembered

noreply@blogger.com (Snowman Expert) — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 03:00:00 +0000

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.

Wow! 35 Ft Snowman with Swimming Pool Hat!

noreply@blogger.com (Snowman Expert) — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 22:06:00 +0000

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.

Snowman Talk in Massachusetts

noreply@blogger.com (Snowman Expert) — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 17:17:00 +0000

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.

Snowman Making Champion of the Free World contest

noreply@blogger.com (Snowman Expert) — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 19:00:00 +0000

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

Snow Bearrrrring Down on the East Coast

noreply@blogger.com (Snowman Expert) — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 21:07:00 +0000

Not just your average hibernating snow-bear!
Ursa Major in Fort Tryon Park, NYC

[photo © 2011 Roy Kushner]
Once again our friend Roy K. was out in Fort Tryon Park up
by the Cloisters in NYC creating snow work with his son.

[photo © 2011 Roy Kushner]
This great snow bear is guarding a series of forts that were also
being built near by.

[photo © 2011 Roy Kushner]
Besides being a creative snowman builder, Roy is the Founder and Chief Designer
at KDG Furniture. You can read more about Roy and work at his website.

Snowman's Survives Amazing Journey: Japan to Bahrain Desert

noreply@blogger.com (Snowman Expert) — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 18:01:00 +0000

Snowman Survives Journey To The Desert –
In Cardboard Box
By Rosa Golijan on January 21, 2011 on Gizmodo.com and also reported
by Brett James on Geek.com

This snowman survived a 8552km journey from Japan to the desert of Bahrain
without any refrigeration. The only things keeping him alive in his cardboard
box were some new vacuum insulation panels designed by Panasonic.

The project was derived from The SPARKS and "eco ideas", which is Panasonic’s
global community web site. The SPARKS team creates innovative ideas that can
help change people’s lives.

photo from:
http://www.geek.com/articles/geek-cetera/panasonic-ship-a-snowman-to-the-desert-in-a-cardboard-box-20110120/

The folks at Panasonic had this clever new product sitting around and needed a way
to show it off (unique vacuum insulation panels in which the box used has no
compressor refrigeration).

They received a message on their Facebook page from a Bahraini girl named
Amna al-Haddad, who wanted her younger brother Saleh to seesnow for the first time -
"Snow never falls in Bahrain, so I would like to show my little brother his very first ’snow’."

So they did the logical thing: They made a mold out of reinforced styrofoam and shoveled
heaps of snow into it – about 70 quarts’ worth – packing it tightly to form a rotund snowman.

They put the mold in a cardboard box and covered it with Panasonic’s U-Vacua insulation,
which has a glass core enveloped by a plastic-metal composite foil.

Then they slapped a “Snowman Inside” sticker onto the 102kg box, and off it went.
You can see the great results in the video on Gizmodo, and it is also here on YouTube.

Obscene Snowman Loses Genitals down South

noreply@blogger.com (Snowman Expert) — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 16:26:00 +0000

There seems to be an obscene snowman in
Union County, South Carolina
As reported on msnbc.com January 13th - A Union County deputy
responded to a complaint about an obscene snowman, and despite
disagreeing with the deputy, the snowman maker eventually agreed
to remove the offending body parts.

photo Copyright 2011 by WYFF4.com
http://www.wyff4.com/r/26480727/detail.html

A deputy spoke to the 45-year-old man who lives on Buffalo
Westsprings Highway about the dyed-pink, male genitals on
the snowman in his yard.

According to the police report, the man told the deputy that
the snowman was on his private property, so he believed he could
display the snowman with the pink parts left in place.

The deputy told the man he could either remove the genitals or
be charged if he refused. The man said he disagreed, but he removed
the offending parts from the snowman to avoid arrest.