Drivers have been stopping all week to take in an unexpected sight — a larger-than-life Mr. Bon Soo standing guard outside a White Oak Drive business

A Sault business owner hopes his larger-than-life Mr. Bon Soo snow sculpture on White Oak Drive will inspire others to bring back the tradition in the future.

Derek Nott, founder and CEO of GLM Homes Inc., said he remembers being wowed by the elaborate snow sculptures that was a hallmark of the Bon Soo Winter Carnival for many years before it was eventually phased out. 

“One of my favourite memories was, we were probably six or seven and they had professional ice sculptures and they made a dinosaur. I thought it was the greatest thing in the world,” said Nott, now 48 years old.

For 15 years, Nott operated a log cabin manufacturing company in the Czech Republic.

When he returned to the Sault a few years ago, he opened GLM, which manufactures prefabricated structural panels for use in construction.

Nott was surprised to learn that snow sculptures were no longer a big part of Bon Soo.

“Now it’s a little bit smaller than it used to be, and probably for a good reason,” he said of the winter carnival.

Nott decided to put his knowledge of wood carving to good use by reducing the snow pile in front of his White Oak Drive business into a snow sculpture of the Bon Soo mascot, Mr. Bon Soo.

“We had this huge mound of snow that I wanted to get rid of and I’m like, ‘let’s carve it up . . . let’s see what we can do,'” said Nott.

He said the almost week-long job gave him a new appreciation for the work that went into the sculptures he admired as a kid. The varying weather conditions — warm temperatures, rain and heavy snowfall — didn’t help.

“I guess that’s one of the reasons why it’s so difficult to do the ice sculptures now, is because you can’t control the weather and all of a sudden it’s 10 degrees outside and the sculpture you’ve been working on for a week and a half is gone pretty quick,” he added.

Nott said he hopes his unofficial Bon Soo sculpture could maybe result in a return of the tradition.

“Hopefully we can get something going, maybe next year, for a Bon Soo competition where businesses can carve their own sculptures,” he added.

Nott said he has enjoyed the attention the sculpting has attracted.

“They’ve been driving by and stopping and all week there’s been people coming up,” he added.

On Monday, the sculpture had another visitor — Mr. Bon Soo himself.