Minnesota brothers create 23-foot tall snail snow sculpture

NEW BRIGHTON, Minn. (FOX 9) - Standing at 23 feet tall in a New Brighton neighborhood, the Bartz brothers’ snow sculpture “Slinky the Snail” is hard to miss.

From a giant octopus, to a massive puffer fish, for the past eight years, the trio has dazzled crowds with their creativity. And it’s a lot of work. 

“This one took us over 600 hours, so there’s one day when we actually had to work over 24 hours straight,” said Connor Bartz.

The siblings documented the process from beginning to end.

“So basically, we start by piling the snow, we get dump trucks and different things to pile it all in, and then we start building it higher, so we kind of create steps and layers,” said Connor Bartz.

“We like doing this, not just because it benefits us and all of these people, but it benefits people from all around the world,” said Trevor Bartz.

This year, they are helping raise money for clean water in Vietnam.

“Admission is free; there’s no admission, but we’d hope that people would donate to the good cause,” said Austin Bartz.

On New Year’s Day, not even the bitter cold could keep hundreds of people from getting a look at the Bartz brothers’ latest attraction.

“It’s just amazing, way bigger than you’d ever imagine when you see it on a Facebook feed or something,” said Anne Gutenkauf, who came to see the sculpture. “So it’s worth coming out, checking it out.”

“Yeah it’s amazing, when we first started, there wasn’t that many people stopping by, it was just locals that knew about it and drove down the street that happened to see it, but now every year more and more people come,” said Austin Bartz.

For more information about the Bartz brothers snow sculpture, click here.