Snowzilla is a giant

snowman A snowman is an anthropomorphic snow sculpture of a man often built in regions with sufficient snowfall and is a common winter tradition. In many places, typical snowmen consist of three large snowballs of different sizes with some additional ...

which has been erected each pre-Christmas season since 2005 in the front yard of private resident Billy Powers' home in

Anchorage, Alaska Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...

. Keeping good on a promise to return again some day, Snowzilla reappeared in snowy and cold December 2023.

History

The first Snowzilla was built in 2005. It rose to , and featured a

corncob pipe A tobacco pipe, often called simply a pipe, is a device specifically made to smoke tobacco. It comprises a chamber (the bowl) for the tobacco from which a thin hollow stem (shank) emerges, ending in a mouthpiece. Pipes can range from very simp ...

, a

carrot The carrot ('' Daucus carota'' subsp. ''sativus'') is a root vegetable, typically orange in color, though purple, black, red, white, and yellow cultivars exist, all of which are domesticated forms of the wild carrot, ''Daucus carota'', nat ...

nose, and two eyes made out of

beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

bottles. After drawing widespread attention, the snowman returned the following year, built to a height of . In 2008 the accumulated snow rose to an estimated height.Elizabeth Bluemink
"Snowzilla rises again in Anchorage, despite city opposition"
''

Deseret News The ''Deseret News'' () is the oldest continuously operating publication in the American west. Its multi-platform products feature journalism and commentary across the fields of politics, culture, family life, faith, sports, and entertainment. Th ...

'', December 25, 2008.

Controversy

One neighbor in the block complained of heavy traffic and cited safety concerns about a very large snowman on the front

lawn A lawn is an area of soil-covered land planted with grasses and other durable plants such as clover which are maintained at a short height with a lawnmower (or sometimes grazing animals) and used for aesthetic and recreational purposes. L ...

of a residential neighborhood, as a result of which city officials issued a

cease and desist A cease and desist letter is a document sent to an individual or business to stop alleged illegal activity. The phrase "cease and desist" is a legal doublet, made up of two near-synonyms. The letter may warn that, if the recipient does not dis ...

order in December 2008, preventing Snowzilla from being completed (it was about 50% completed when the order was issued and the accumulated snow removed). However, a few days later it re-appeared on Powers' lawn, although he denied making it. A strong public outcry soon arose over the apparent municipal interference with the holiday tradition, and a website (formerly "Snowzilla.org") appeared on 23 December 2008. On Christmas morning, a group of small sign-carrying snowmen appeared in front of Anchorage city hall, but the city quickly demolished them. In 2009, a new mayor was sitting in City Hall, and the family said that it expected to be able to erect the giant snowman without interference. Writing about the January 2011 version, an editor for ''

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

'' magazine described Snowzilla as "a symbol of Alaska civil disobedience enacted, appropriately enough, in snow".Rebecca Luczycki, "Snowzilla", ''

'', January 11, 2011
archived
from the original at the

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...

(accessed 2013-02-02).

References

{{coord, 61.20675, -149.81802, display=title 2005 establishments in Alaska Buildings and structures in Anchorage, Alaska Buildings and structures made of snow or ice Roadside attractions in Alaska Snow sculpture