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A father in Shirley built a 20-foot snowman for his daughter
"Parker" the snowman has become a neighborhood photo stop — and next winter, it could get even bigger.
A towering snowman has been turning heads in Shirley this winter — rising at roughly 20 feet high and turning one family’s driveway into an unlikely neighborhood photo stop.
Dubbed “Parker” after the street he calls home, the supersized snowman is the creation of Shirley dad Eric Aalerud, who said the idea first took shape last winter while he was home with a newborn — and a lot of extra time.
“We were in the house, bored, and I was like, I’ve gotta do something,” he said. “Newborns just lay around all day.”
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What started as a typical-sized snowman quickly grew as storm after storm added more snow to his yard. As the piles got bigger, so did the project.
Last year’s version stood at about 15-feet-tall. This winter, with more snow to work with, Aalerud decided to go bigger — even if it meant extra work once his equipment hit its limit.
“The snow blower only blows about 15 feet,” he said.
To get past that height this year, Aalerud said he eventually had to switch from blowing snow to moving it by hand — building up the base, then climbing onto a platform and hand-shoveling snow to form the roughly 6-foot-wide head.
“I was sore for a week after doing this one,” he said.
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But Aalerud said the reaction is what makes it fun — something that’s just as entertaining for his family to watch as it is for visitors to experience.
“Every five to 10 minutes, there’s someone standing out there taking a picture with the thing,” he said. “Inside we watch everybody stopping while we rock the baby.”
At home, Aalerud said, his wife has gone from skeptical to fully on board.
“She thought I was a little nuts at first… but now she gets it,” he said. “She loves it. She loves watching people stop all day.”
And while he said his daughter is still too young to fully grasp what’s happening outside — he hopes it’s something she’ll appreciate as she grows up.
“She’s so young she doesn’t have a super huge reaction, but I think the cool part will be in the future when she gets a little older and she’s looking back and she’s like, ‘Oh wow that’s awesome.’”
The attention has already sparked talk of what next winter could look like — and Aalerud said if he does it again, he may have to level up his gear.
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“I might buy another snowblower next year,” he said, adding that he’s looked into a professional model that can throw snow farther.
“If I do it again next year,” he said, “I will definitely aim for bigger.”
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