'Chubby' the gigantic snowman delights onlookers in Halifax

CTV National News: Giant snowman Todd Battis takes a look at a giant snowman the size of a house that's turning heads in Halifax.

It has hockey puck eyes, 1.8-metre long branches for arms and a traffic cone for a nose. Oh, and a cozy, custom-made plaid scarf for warmth… even if it is made from snow.

The gigantic snowman turning heads in Halifax, N.S. this week has been dubbed “Chubby” by one of its creators, Stephen Flynn.

Towering 4.5 metres over Connolly Street, Chubby has been attracting plenty of attention from passersby and delighting children in the neighbourhood, according to Flynn.

“Seeing the reactions and smiles on people’s faces just looking at a giant snowman,” Flynn told CTV Atlantic on Monday. “It’s awesome.”

Flynn, his fiancée Cobie McFallon and their friend Mike Postma came up with the idea to build the snowman on Sunday after the city received more than 80 centimetres of snow in back-to-back winter storms last week.

The group filmed the construction of Chubby in a video for their YouTube channel “This Weekend,” where they record their interesting activities on the weekends. They’re planning on uploading the video detailing Chubby’s formation later this week.

Flynn said the trio used something called the “tarp method” to build the hefty snowman, where he and McFallon would stand on ladders and hold up tarps to block the snow being blasted at them from Postma below using a snowblower. In that manner, they were able to pile up enough snow to give Chubby its impressive height.

“Eventually we had to put wood planks in around the side and build the sides out and then stand on top again with the tarp and take snow in the face,” Flynn explained. “It was pretty funny, but that was our method.”

The group worked from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. bringing Chubby to life, according to Flynn.

“It was a ton of work and we’re super sore today, but [it was] well worth it,” Flynn said with a smile. “A lot of people coming by to see it and kids love it.”

With files from CTV Atlantic