Providence Man Builds 16-Foot Snowman

With yet another storm poised to drop at least a foot of snow on Rhode Island, snow has piled up on most lawns in the state.

Piles of snow don’t typically make you smile. In fact, they tend to cause grumbles as people have to brave frigid temperatures to shovel the snowfall away. But one Providence man has made the best of the several feet of snow Mother Earth has dropped on Rhode Island this month.

He turned all that snow into a 16-foot snowman, complete with colorful buttons and a tophat that reaches the second floor of the family’s home on Shepard Avenue in Providence.

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It’s not the first snowman Rodrigo Betancur has built, but it’s certainly the biggest. Betancur told WPRO 630 that he’s been building giant snowmen since coming to the United States 35 years ago. He started building snowmen taller than 10 feet within the last five years and strives to build them taller each year.

Someday, he plans to attempt beating the world record of 122 feet. That snowman, or snow woman, took one month and several residents of Bethel, ME to build. She was built in Feb. of 2008 when seasonal snowfall in Maine totaled more than 182 inches.

The Providence snowman took Betancur five days and a wooden frame to build. He was inspired by his daughters, ages 4 and 6, but his wife Berenice says he does it to make everyone smile, according to WJAR News 10.

See more pictures of Betancur’s creation at The Providence Journal.