When it comes to creative challenges, FAMILYFUN readers are eager to lend a mittened hand. We asked them to reinvent the snowman, and they sent us a blizzard of spectacular ideas--from towering dinosaurs to prancing ponies to cute compact cars. Below, you'll find the nine finalists of last year's snow sculpture competition. Click on each individual picture for more information about a particular creation.
Sculptors: Richard, Peggy, Jeremy (age 19), Benjamin (age 16), Nicholas (age 13), and Angelee (age 12) W.
Snow country: Cedar City, Utah
Most dinosaur-loving kids content themselves with books, posters, and Jurassic Park reruns. But this particular family is never inclined to think small, especially when it comes to giant reptiles. "We've made almost all of them," says Peggy, "but this brontosaurus was our favorite because it was so big and the whole neighborhood showed up." To make their 12-foot ride-on bronto, the kids ferried buckets of snow to the site until they had a mound big enough for its body. Then they helped their dad, Richard, sculpt haunches, legs, and feet. The trickiest part was creating the head and neck, which had to be built atop a 2-by-4 support beam. It also required using a stepladder to add the final touches. All the neighborhood kids had a chance to ride the giant albino dino, which stopped traffic for almost a week! Then, like his predecessors, he melted mysteriously into extinction.
Sculptor: Molly N. (age 14).
Snow Country: Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
This tawny beast is a replica of Leo, a real lion that prowled the grounds of the historic Brucemore Mansion once owned by Cedar Rapids aristocrat Howard Hall. An avid animal-lover, Hall kept several lions and was even known to playfully wrestle with them. So when Brucemore's marketing director saw the lion-and-lamb snow sculpture Molly had built in her front yard, he invited her to re-create Leo. "To get ready, I watched my Lion King video and freeze-framed it to study lions in different poses," says Molly. Then, armed with a shovel, spoon, butter knife, and acrylic paints mixed with water, she started sculpting. The smashing results didn't last long in Iowa's climate. No matter: Molly was invited back next season to help keep Leo's memory as fresh as ever.
Sculptor: Benjamin P. (age 22).
Snow Country: La Crosse, Wisconsin.
Here's one snowman who clearly ate his spinach. To boot, he's dressed to impress, with a trash can top hat, a 30-foot-long scarf, and flowerpot buttons. And hey, we're impressed. Benjamin, age 22 but still a kid at heart, hauled, packed, and sculpted ten pickup-truckloads of snow into this 18-foot-tall, 100-percent-snow giant. Aided only by scaffolding, a ramp, and a wheelbarrow, he built every inch by hand. Why did he do it? Well, his family's construction business slows down to a crawl in winter, so he had time and energy to spare. "It was a lot of work, but when I put my mind to something, I get it done," he says. "Plus it kept me in shape for summer." Will he do it again? "Nope," says Benjamin. "This year I'm going to Florida."
Sculptors: Jim, Jennifer, Nathan (age 12), and Erin (age 8) H.
Snow country: Somerset, Kentucky.
A fiend for all things related to her favorite canine cartoon character, Pochacco, Erin has a Pochacco wastebasket, umbrella, pencil holders, tote bag--you name it. So when 14 inches of snow fell in the winter of 1998, it was no surprise that she seized the opportunity to create this huge, cuddly snowdog. Using a stuffed Pochy toy for a model, Erin's dad, Jim, helped her shape the animal while her mom, Jennifer, made felt eyes, ears, nose, paw pads, and a bow tie to attach to the sculpture with straight pins. Then Erin and brother Nathan posed for the commemorative portrait.
Sculptors: Debra, Jesse, J. Walter (age 12), Colton (age 9), Kimerick (age 6), and Maxfield (age 4) W.
Tumbleweed country: San Marcos, California.
According to this family, the hardest part about building a snowman out of tumbleweeds is getting the darn things home. "They bounce and blow out of the truck," says Debra. "I've tried every method I can think of--bungee cords, straps, canvas tarps--and they still escape." Every year, Debra and her kids drive to a nearby field to pick out three choice specimens that have rolled up against a fence. Once home, they secure the stack with a garden stake and spray-paint the weeds white. Next, they add a football nose, a scarf, and plastic flowerpot eyes. Where other snowmen have to beware of the sun, Mr. Tumbleweed has to watch out for other elements. "One year his head blew off," says Debra. "It's just another one of the treacheries of nature."
Sculptors: Holly and Aubrey (age 5) C.
Snow country: Taberg, New York
Living in upstate New York, this family is never at a loss for a good snowdrift. They've sculpted snow bunnies, a turkey, fish, castles, and this sleek white horse. Holly and her youngest child, Aubrey, toiled all day on the steed so they could surprise siblings Hayley (age 10) and Holden (age 7) when they came home from school. "We have plastic horses all over the house, so I knew what they looked like," says Holly. By repacking the horse with snow on warm days and coating it with water so it would freeze solid on cold days, Holly was able to preserve the sculpture long enough for her kids to enjoy a few weeks of prancing in the snow.
Sculptor: Shawn J. (age 10).
Snow country: Milton, Wisconsin
With a whole rookery of stuffed birds gracing his bedroom, and an impressive collection of postcards, cards, and photographs of his web-footed friends, Shawn knows his penguins. This frosty pair appeared in his yard, it seems, when the the family set out to build a classic snowman. When the second ball of snow crumbled on top of the first, they just kept packing on snow, and what started out as a rounded stack began to look more like an inverted ice-cream cone--or a penguin, if you asked Shawn. Soon there was a papa and a baby penguin, with plastic bottle beaks and classy "tuxedos" fashioned from dirty road snow. He informs us that the larger penguin is a male. You see, both the father and the mother penguins share the responsibility of incubating the eggs and caring for the young. "They take turns,"explains Shawn. An exemplary arrangement, we think.
Sculptors: Sandra and Christopher (age 6) B.
Snow country: Fort Wayne, Indiana
Christopher tried half a dozen hats on this snowman before he finally crowned his beloved "fishin' Grandpa" with a red baseball cap. Then he added hickory shell eyes, a bait bucket full of twig worms, and a fishing rod branch. "The highlight of the afternoon was when Christopher found that smile stick," says his mom, Sandra. The love for fishing runs deep in this family, so it's no wonder Grandpa is grinning from ear to ear.
Sculptors: Tracy, Kari, Kenny (age 16), Tate (age 15), Taylor (age 13), Kelsi (age 10), and Kaci (age 3) E.
Snow country: Sundance, Utah
We knew the Volkswagen "Bug" was making a comeback. This sparkling white model was engineered by the family when they found a big mound of plowed snow by the front door of their vacation cabin. Kenny, who had just received a model Beetle for his birthday, knew just what it looked like. Using just a snow shovel and gloved hands, they crafted the automobile body and added all the details: exhaust pipe, door handles, hubcaps, headlights, even a grill. Says mom Kari, "My uncle drove by and later called up to ask, 'Who's parked their VW up at the cabin?' It was a little smaller than a real VW, but close enough to fool you."
Rani Arbo is a frequent contributor to FAMILYFUN.
