Enter the Last Snowman 2021 contest

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/03/2021 (1858 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There’s no better way to recapture your childhood and embrace winter than by building a snowman.

Lots of people are doing that this winter. So many, in fact, that a competition has been launched – the Last Snowman 2021 Winnipeg snowman building contest. There are prizes of  $2,000 for the winner, $500 for the runner up and $200 each for the next best 10.

So, if you’ve ever marvelled at some of the snow and ice-sculpting at Festival du Voyageur, here’s your chance to get in on the act.

Take a picture of your completed snowman before March 21 and post it on social media using the hashtag #lastsnowmanwinnipeg; you can also post it to their Facebook page. Participants who don’t use social media can email their photo with the date it was taken to lastsnowmanwinnipeg@gmail.com and it will be posted on Facebook.

The prize money is being donated by Maria den Oudsten, a former Winnipegger. To ensure this remains a sustainable project, $1 from each entry will be donated to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s Royal Foundation’s Earthshot project to focus on the devastating effects of climate change.

I loved building snowmen as a child, and maybe I was fortunate to live in an area where the snow was wet and sticky. I’d just start with a snowball and roll it and watch it get bigger and bigger.

You may need a different strategy here in Winnipeg, though, as it’s hard to use my old technique with our dry, powdery snow.

Let me suggest filling a large plastic bag or box with clean snow then compressing it. Then add more snow and compress that, too, before removing the bag. You may choose to sprinkle it with some water and allow to freeze.

This isn’t the first time we’ve had such a competition here, there was one in 2003, also organized by den Oudsten, when she was president of the Downtown Winnipeg Rotary Club.

This one is being organized locally by Sonja Lundstrom, Sandra Hasenack and Jane Markesteyn.

Although this may be a local competition, it’s part of a worldwide snowman building contest that has been happening every winter in other parts of Canada as well as Japan, Finland, Russia and France.

Judging criteria will be height, sturdiness, decoration, presence, charm and social media likes.

And remember, size matters – larger snowmen live longer.            

 

Trevor Smith is a community correspondent for River Heights. You can contact him via email at smitht@mymts.net