A 20-foot-tall snowman is drawing crowds to a residential neighborhood in Shirley, Massachusetts, transforming a local family’s driveway into an unexpected tourist destination.
The snow sculpture, affectionately nicknamed “Parker” after the street where it stands, was built by Shirley resident Eric Aalerud, initially as a project to occupy his time while home with his newborn daughter last winter. What began as a typical-sized snowman quickly escalated with subsequent snowstorms, prompting Aalerud to expand the project.
“We were in the house, bored and I was like, I’ve gotta do something,” Aalerud told boston.com. “Newborns just lay around all day.”
This year’s iteration of Parker is significantly larger than last year’s 15-foot version, requiring Aalerud to employ increasingly elaborate construction techniques. When his snow blower reached its limit, he resorted to moving snow by hand, even climbing onto a platform to shovel the snow forming the snowman’s roughly six-foot-wide head. “I was sore for a week after doing this one,” Aalerud said.
The snowman’s features are illuminated with lights, including its eyes, buttons, and a hat constructed from a repurposed trash can. The spectacle is particularly striking at night, visible to drivers passing by on the nearby hill. Katie Aalerud, Eric’s wife, noted the constant stream of visitors. “Every five to 10 minutes, there’s someone standing out there taking a picture with the thing,” she said. “Inside we watch everybody stopping while we rock the baby.”
The Aaleruds report that the snowman has remained largely intact despite relatively mild temperatures, and they are hopeful it will last for several more weeks. Last year’s snowman melted in early April. The family intends to continue building Parker bigger each year, according to reports.
The towering snowman has become a local attraction, with people traveling to Shirley specifically to view and photograph the sculpture. Traffic has been noticeably affected, with drivers slowing down or stopping to take pictures, according to Katie Aalerud.
