FROZEN OUT OF SNOWMAN RECORD
Braydan Hawkins- Shadbolt taps a carrot nose into a snowman Saturday as residents of the town of Hudson tried to break the Guinness World Record for most snowmen built in one hour. But snow conditions on the ‘ brutally cold’ day were less than ideal, and
They rolled, pounded, packed and stacked snow, but Hudson residents hoping to see their names etched in the Guinness Book of World Records will have to try again next year.
Needing to build 1,300 snowmen in one hour to break a record, around 120 participants mustered only 285 on Saturday as they battled ice- cold winds and dropping temperatures.
An hour after the Hudson fire department sounded a fire truck’s horn to signal the start, six “independent observer judges” made their way around the field, tape measurers in hand. Any snowman shorter than three feet or not being made of three distinctive balls was disqualified from the count.
Despite the disappointing final result, organizer Diane Lewis considered the day a huge success.
“It was brutally cold and the snow just was not sticking together,” Lewis said, “but everyone involved had a blast.”
The town played by the rules and didn’t hose down the field or modify the snow, but at the end of the day, if the snow just doesn’t want to stick together, there are only so many snowmen that can be made.
“It just would not come together,” Lewis sighed. “If the snow would have stuck together, we definitely would have made it.”
The event was supposed to take place at two locations, but because of the cold wind off the lake, Jack Layton Park was scratched and a small village of snowmen — most with olives for eyes and a few sporting wigs or hats — was erected behind St- Thomas School instead.
The last moments, after a two- minute warning, were a frenzy, said Lewis, with participants looking left and right to finish neighbouring snowmen — a carrot nose planted here, a twig for an arm there.
“Really we only felt the cold when we were standing around waiting for the count,” she said. “The hour flew by.”
Lewis says the plans are to hold the event again next year, and regulations permitting, each year after that until the town can get the record. “This was a practice run,” she said.
Two weeks ago, 1,299 snowmen were built in one hour in Ottawa, edging out Salt Lake City, where 350 people built 1,279 snowmen in 2011.
And now, it appears, a new record has also been set. In the city of Iiyama, Japan, north of Tokyo, some 600 people reportedly built 1,585 snowmen in one hour on Sunday, eclipsing the previous record.
Undeterred by the news, Lewis said Hudson will definitely be back at it next year.
“For sure, for sure, for sure,” she said. “We might all have to head to the gym, or have some assemblyline training,” she said, laughing. “But we’ll try again.”