You know the old saying: When life gives you snow, make a 30-foot-tall snowman. Well, maybe that isn’t the saying, but now that this giant snowman has garnered national attention, more people might be interested in creating in massive snow art.
Eric Fobbe of Buffalo, Minnesota, first started making a snowman two weeks ago. Heavy snow in Wright County is not uncommon, and nor are snowmen … but snowmen that are 30 feet tall and 20 feet across are indeed unusual.
Although the snowman resides in the Fobbes’ front yard on the corner of Buffalo Run Road and Rodeo Drive in Buffalo, the giant snowman is also the result of the support of neighbors. Fobbe gathered snow from his neighbors’ yards and used a snowblower to create one big pile of snow. He spent more than 40 hours building the giant snowman, using a ladder and a set of temporary stairs to help him scale the snowman and affix his giant hat, as well as his nose (which is actually a bright orange traffic cone).
His wife, Anastasia Fobbe, proudly shared Eric’s work on her Facebook page:
Eric ensures that his snowman, which has been named Frosty Fobbe, maintains his shape.
“When it’s sunny out, or it’s over 30 degrees, I’ll come home from work, and I’ll notice it’s shrunk a little bit, so I’m out here adding snow to it non-stop,” Fobbe told Detroit’s Fox 2.
The southern Minnesota community seems to love Frosty Fobbe. Neighbors have been dropping by to check out the snowman, and people have been driving from all over to see Frosty Fobbe in person. It wasn’t long before news of Frosty Fobbe went viral, with news crews from neighboring states showing up to interview Eric and his family.
This isn’t the first time that Eric Fobbe has made a giant snowman. Over the past few years, the family has created a snowman that was 20 feet tall, and then another that was 25 feet tall.
Although these snowmen are large, the world’s largest recorded snowperson was actually a snow woman, according to Guinness. Reaching more than 122-foot-tall, she was built by a community in Bethel, Maine. She was so massive that her buttons were made of truck tires and her eyelashes were made from skis!
This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Check out Simplemost for additional stories.