Bob McSlob the snowman is a jolly happy soul. With a bucket hat and a stick nose, and two eyes made out of holes.
The hollow 14-foot tall ice sculpture sits tall on Ryan Price’s front yard by the train track on Glasgow Street North as those who pass by gaze in wonder and awe of its enormous size.
“Basically its an igloo on the bottom, and igloo on the top. We left the top open and built a head on top so we used a ladder,” said Price who spent 14 hours on Sunday building the snowman with his kids Luke, Ben and their two friends to create the largest snowman they've ever seen.
McSlob's name is an acronym derived from Sam Luke, Oliver, and Ben.
With a ladder that leads up to the top of the snowman, children can climb up and see through McSlob’s eye holes .
“It was Ben’s idea. He was like we should make a snowman that you can look out the eyeballs,” said Price as the children played outside on their day off from school as a result of the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario's strike.
Price said the kids had to go around the neighbourhood collecting snow in buckets because they didn’t have enough snow.
“So they were kind of going down the street, they bring the toboggan and dump the snow,” said Price adding that the sculpture is likely over 1,000 pounds despite being hollow inside.
With an approximately eight-foot circumference of the body of the snowman, the head was too large for a scarf, and so Price used a bedsheet to wrap around McSlob’s neck.
He said the best part of having the McSlob on his property is seeing the reactions on people’s faces.
“Anyone, like scruffy old guys and guys in pick-up trucks, and working guys and ladies and men and everyone is just like kids. They’re so happy,” said Price.
