Another winter, another stunning snow sculpture made in the front yard of Karolina Petrova and Andrey Petrov.
Last year, the Gravenhurst couple made three designs: starting with a castle, then the Segwun, and finally a fire truck. This year, they decided to go big with the Parliament Building. “I always really wanted to build the Parliament Building because it’s the main building of Canada,” Petrov says.
“This year I thought I had enough experience, and snow, and good weather,” Petrov explains.
What makes the building so challenging is its size and the many fine details in it, according to Petrov.
The couple got around that by looking at different photos of Parliament and eliminating some details, while still maintaining the beauty of the building and leaving the bigger details like the Peace Tower and the windows alone. “As easy and simple as I can go,” Petrov says.
This project is much more difficult than a simple snow fort, so Petrova says they have tools like a laser level to make sure everything is picture-perfect. However, for some of the details like the windows, they pulled out a cookie cutter to shape them.
Petrov says he handled most of the heavy lifting. Each of the 136 snow blocks used to create the building weighed about 60 lbs. each, totaling about 8,000 lbs. He says they used recycling bins to carry them. He adds the building is about 17.5 ft. tall and 34 ft. wide.
“It’s nice to do something fun in the wintertime when it’s cold and people might be feeling a little bit down,” she says. “Building these sculptures brings us joy and brings joy to the community as well.”
Petrova says they’ve gotten a positive reaction from the community, mainly on social media, though some people have been walking by their home to check on the sculpture’s progress.
All good things come to an end, though. Petrova says the warm weather tends to melt some of the finer details and that will spell the end for the building as a whole. However, it’s not all bad news: in years past, the couple has crafted smaller designs with the leftover snow. Petrova says they aren’t sure what they will do this year when the sculpture starts to melt.
The couple says everyone is welcome to drive by their home on Hotchkiss Street in Gravenhurst to see the sculpture in person.
