A friend sent these pictures to me and I just had to share this story with you. The story is about a very big snowman built in 2007 in the small village of Bethel, Maine. These people know how to build a snowman!
The "snowwoman" towered over the village featuring eyelashes created from discarded skis and bright red lips made from painted car tires. She wore a giant red hat and a 100-foot-long scarf, and her blond tresses were made from rope. She got a little bling from a snowflake pendant that's 6 feet long
With the temperature in single digits, several hundred people including busloads of schoolchildren turned out for the dedication of the 122-foot-tall mountain of snow named Olympia.
This ski town of about 2,400 residents already held the record for tallest snowman, dedicated in 1999. The village of Bethel had been waiting for someone else to break the record. When no one rose to the challenge, the folks there decided they'd have to break the record themselves.
Truly amazing to see a snowman towering over the tree line.
Previous record holder, Angus - king of the mountain.
"Olympia," named for Maine's senior senator, Olympia Snowe, stood nearly 10 feet taller than "Angus, King of the Mountain," who was dedicated by the town in 1999. That snowman, named for then-Gov. Angus King, was created by the same folks responsible for Olympia
It took more than a month, dozens of volunteers and tons of snow to create Olympia. Jim Sysko, a civil engineer, oversaw design and construction
To get an idea of scale, Olympia stood about 30 feet shorter than the Statue of Liberty (without the base) Her arms were made of 27-foot-tall evergreens.Her "carrot" nose, painted by schoolchildren, measured 8 feet long. Her eyes were made from giant wreaths.
She was built with a series of concentric circles. The crane dumped the snow into frames, and volunteers climbed in for long hours shoveling and packing the snow.
Olymia is now currently the world's tallest snow woman by the Guinness Book of Records. There previously was not a separate category for snow women, so the residents of Bethel petitioned for one!
There was plenty of snow for the project. Parts of Maine had more than 100 inches of snow to work with.
Volunteers started with manmade snow and then used snow piled on the runway of the municipal airport to finish the job.
For those of you wondering...it took until July 2008 for the snowwoman to melt!
Happy Winter,
brenda
1 comment:
I just had to comment on this one since I saw her in person. She was completed last February and quite spectacular. What they don't tell you is that she partially flooded the town when she melted in April! Can you tell that people in Maine like to play in the snow? I loved seeing these pictures on your site. Thanks!
Lauri
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