50-Foot Snowman In Minnesota: ‘Granddaddy’ Took Hundreds Of Hours To Build

A 50-foot snowman may have taken a farmer in central Minnesota hundreds of hours to build, but the result is a spectacle to behold.

The builder of the giant snowman – aptly named ‘Granddaddy’ – Greg Novak, said he hoped that onlookers would enjoy the sight of such a massive snowman as a sort of tribute to this year’s harsh winter.

He admits that some neighbors are questioning his sanity at the moment, but that hasn’t stopped him from building his 50-foot snowman. It all started earlier this winter, when Novak began moving snow piles away from his greenhouses.

He noticed as he moved the snow that it was forming into something and decided to start his project: “As long as you’re moving it, might as well do something practical with it,” he said.

He used skid loaders to pile the snow high and then employed the use of a silage blower to direct the snow into stacked cylinders. Gerald and Diane Harbarth drove more than 70 miles on Sunday to see the 50-foot snowman.

Novak spoke to reporters about the reasons why he built the snowman in the first place: “It puts a smile on people’s faces. When people smile, you know you’ve done a good thing.”

Even though the 50-foot snowman in Minnesota is a massive one, it’s only small compared to the world record holding snowman. Back in 2008, residents in Maine built the world’s tallest snowman at a huge 122-feet-high.

In fact the world breaking Maine snowman wasn’t a snowman at all it was a snowwoman! And her name was Olympia – named after then state’s Senator Olympia Snowe.

[Image Via Video Sceencaps From CBS Minnesota and KARE]