New Brighton Brothers Building Annual Giant Snow Sculpture

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Each winter, three brothers in New Brighton carve out time to be with each other. But what they do is a little different than most families. They create giant snow sculptures.

Their creations come to life right in their front yard in New Brighton. You probably remember seeing their larger-than-life octopus, sea turtle, shark, and puffer fish.

This year, old man winter is making their work a bit more challenging. While they have plenty of snow to work with, it was a battle against the clock Wednesday as the Bartz brothers tried to get as much done as possible while conditions are still prime.

"The hurry today is, this is the last day we have really sticky and packable snow," Austin Bartz said. "It's going to be really cold next week, and then some rain, so we're trying to hurry up and get the whole sculpture coated today."

It's a holiday tradition for them -- one that began six years ago.

"The first year we started doing this, I actually caught a puffer fish in Florida, and we thought 'Oh, that would be cool to do out of snow,'" Austin said. "And that started it, and everybody absolutely loved that. So we did a walrus, and we did a shark, an octopus and now this year, a fish."

The teamwork, is also cherished bonding time for the college students.

"When I'm away at college, it's kind of hard because I don't get to see him that much," Trevor said. "But coming here and doing snow sculpting really allows me to to get some more quality time with them and enjoy their presence."

Austin and Trevor say a lot of trial and error has gone into their work over the years, and they've learned a few tricks when it comes to getting the snow just right.

"Most of the snow, if it's not already really warm out, we actually put it all in the garage," Austin said. "And we heat our garage up to 90 degrees, and it makes it really packable."

Not everything always goes as planned. A few days ago, their 16-foot tall tail collapsed.

"It almost took us a full day, so probably 8 to 10 hours to make it, and then it collapsed," Trevor said.

The brothers agree, the bonding is just the second best part of their sculptures.

"I like it when little kids come by and you just see them drive by in the car, slowly, and they see the sculpture and their faces just light up," Trevor said. "Because it's just something incredible, something they would never expect, and that's the thing that excites me the most."

The onlookers are already arriving, even though the brothers don't expect their 13-foot tall fish to be complete until New Year's Eve. You can check it out for yourself at this address:

2777 16th St. NW
New Brighton, MN 55112