Ladysmth twin siblings Laila and Riley Virtanen glow with excitement as they pose next to the giant standing guard on the their front lawn that’s caught the attention of neighbours.
That’s because the snowman built by their mom’s boyfriend Bruce McMurtrie reaches a whopping 9’3″ tall, more than capable of standing toe-to-toe with a grizzly bear on its hind legs.
“Look at those smiles on their faces. I couldn’t say no to that,” he said about the 7-year-old girls when asked what inspired him to spend three hours on Sunday building the snowman.
Following first snowfall of the year a few months back McMurtrie built a castle complete with a slide and tunnel.
In the past he’s also made a mini luge course for the twins and a snowman that was seven-feet-tall.
But while some people saw the overnight snowfall over the weekend as a backbreaking slog, McMurtrie had a vision when he headed outside with his shovel.
“From the driveway I just threw it all there in a pile and then grabbed my ladder and started shaping it,” he said. “It’s solid now.”
With speaker covers for buttons and softballs for eyes, this frosty, who the girls haven’t named, is a site to be seen.
In fact, McMurtrie said he wanted to the snowman to be a focal point for motorists on Walkem Road.
“I like it because it slows people down because they race up and down this street,” he said.
