Snowasaurus is a snow sculpture created by Alan Papp.
His creation sits in the front yard of his Anoka house and is visible to anyone in the neighborhood.
“The more people that get to see it and enjoy it, that makes me feel better,” said Papp. “Gives me a good feeling.”
Papp was just trying to keep up with his neighbors and now his house is the go-to spot on the block.
“The kids across the street, I saw them building their snowmen,” Papp said. “That kind of inspired me. I have to go out and do something.”
Last September, Papp relocated to Minnesota from Northern California to be closer to his grandson – who has a room decorated with prehistoric creatures. That fostered Papp’s Snowasaurus theme.
“We’ve got some pictures of him standing there, touching his eyes, putting his hands in there,” Papp said. “Yeah, he really liked it. He’s a year and a half.”
Papp uses food coloring and a pump sprayer to give Snowasaurus a green and gold look.
Said Papp: “I used to paint cars for a living, so I’m really good mixing colors and it all worked out.”
When he was in Nor Cal, Papp would often go to Pacific Ocean beaches and work with sand.
It started with sand castles and it kind of took off, It was our big family thing that we did,” Papp said. “Then we started doing sand sculptures of animals and stuff.”
According to Papp, when it comes to sculpting, snow is the way to go.
Snow is way better because it sticks,” Papp said. “When it’s sticky it’s super fast. Sand you have to add water and you have to pack and then you have to do it and it doesn’t stick as good as snow does.”
Papp has suddenly become a local rock star – Snowasarus has garnered plenty of attention.
This is crazy,” Papp said. “I never thought this would go to this…Never in my wildest dreams, thought this would happen.”
Papp is actually grateful for Minnesota’s long, frigid winter – because that means Snowasaurus won’t be melting anytime soon.
