Completion of a polar bear and winter still-life snow sculpture by Pat Brodeur set to bring smiles for family, friends and visitors

You know it’s a snow news day when Midland resident Pat Brodeur completes his backyard sculptures.

For four years since 2021, Brodeur has been entertaining friends and visitors to his backyard on Wawinet Street to show off creations of packed snow and ice, and this year’s entry included a functional igloo, a polar bear, a cub and an ice hole which will be used for a polar bear plunge.

“The main event is the polar bear; it’s probably bigger than the largest polar bear ever,” Brodeur tells MidlandToday.

The three-meter, snow-packed depiction of Canada’s winter predator had been accentuated with black spray paint in stencils for claws, eyes, ears and lips – just like the smaller and more life-sized cub, which Brodeur had begun sculpting at 7 a.m. one morning and completed a few hours later.

“In order to get the appearance on the ice and looking into the (three-foot-deep) ice hole, I had to raise the level of the yard,” says Brodeur, who points out he chose that sized hole due to its proper fitting for an insert.

“I’ve got a dunk tank, so I do cold-plunges, which I’ll do next week.”

And before or after the plunge, one imagines he’ll used the backyard sauna located nearby.

Brodeur began his process with the assistance of excess snowfall over the December holiday period. He drew snow from his front yard and driveway to bring to the back, while his neighbours throughout the street also contributed.

“I was shovelling for six neighbours, scooping it and bringing it over. I would say, ‘Can I borrow your snow?’ They would say, ‘Take as much as you need!’”

As for the igloo, Brodeur shared that its first iteration as a structure around the backyard fire pit resembled a castle, to which a young neighbour said: “‘Oh, look at the castle; you need a creature with this castle’. And so it just started.”

Brodeur had created the igloo blocks using recycling bins initially, but soon recognized that a handsaw on the packed snow of his front yard could be transported for a more accurate usage.

“When they make an igloo, they go onto the lake and cut blocks; so this is the true form of making an igloo, once I pack it down and it’s gone through the thaw.”

In previous years, Brodeur had sculpted the Kraken sea monster from Norse mythology, a mythical Yeti from the Himalayans and the aforementioned dragon and castle in his first exhibition.

While not traditionally a woodcarver, Brodeur says that he had taken some inspiration in the past with constructing wooden toys such as vehicles for friends and children based on designs they would provide.

Brodeur’s wife Mary tells MidlandToday that her husband’s creativity always came as a surprise.

“Every year he just gets better and better at it. He sometimes says, ‘I’m not going to do it this year, it’s a lot of work’, but then winter rolls around and the snow starts coming down, and I see the twinkle in his eye… and the next thing I know he’s in the backyard.”

Regional events involving snow and ice sculptures, such as the Winterama festival in Penetanguishene, are beyond Brodeur’s aspirations.

“That kind of scares me, to have a competition where you’re under the gun. I like when I can go at my own pace.”

Although the sculptures are in the backyard of the Brodeur’s property, he said that visitors would often come by and give a friendly drop-in to see what the new year had to offer.