Eight-foot-tall Shrek and Donkey sculpture dominates Sherwood Park neighbourhood
A Sherwood Park man is taking a love for crafting things out of snow to another level with a detailed Shrek and Donkey sculpture.
Jacques St. Laurent, a millwright by day, has crafted different snow sculptures in his front yard for several years.
This year, his Shrek-themed creation on Menlo Crescent is nearing completion after 80 hours of work.
"I'm not really artsy, but I do tend to like building things with my hands," St. Laurent said. "Other than playing hockey and skiing, there's not much else to do in the wintertime.
"So I was like, let's take advantage of the snow and make the best of it."
The self-taught snow artist chooses the subject matter for his snow pieces based on what his family is watching that year. Last winter he made a Yoda sculpture in honour of Disney's The Mandalorian. Two years ago, it was Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon.
Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon crafted by Jacques St. Laurent (Supplied).
"The kids help me out and get me started," he explained. "I wanted them to help, but I gave them little knives, and they just wanted to start cutting everything off."
Jacques St. Laurent's Yoda snow sculpture (Supplied).
His family now helps with packing the snow as he creates the form.
This year's warmer weather has meant he needed to spend more time reshaping and fixing sections.
"It's most fun when it's freshly packed snow," St. Laurent told CTV News Edmonton. "Then it's like slicing butter."
Last year, when there was less snow, to create his Yoda sculpture, he had to go to the neighbours and ask if he could borrow their snow.
"I was like, you're not going to get it back," he laughed.
Before starting carving, St. Laurent says he makes a clay model and reshapes it for several weeks.
"It gives me something to look at," he added. "So every couple of feet on the snow sculpture is like about an inch in my model."
A clay model Jacques St. Laurent made before starting his snow sculpture (CTV News Edmonton/Sean McClune).
Neighbours have loved seeing the new designs every year, he said.
"People drive by all the time and stop to take pictures," St. Laurent said. "I do it for fun because I enjoy doing it and it's a challenge for me.
"But seeing all the neighbours and kids coming asking to take a picture is great too."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Large numbers of New York City police officers begin entering Columbia University campus
Large numbers of New York City police officers began entering the Columbia University late Tuesday as dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters remained on the campus.
Poilievre kicked out of Commons after calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau 'wacko'
Testy exchanges between the prime minister and his chief opponent ended with the Opposition leader and one of his MPs being ejected from the House of Commons on Tuesday -- and the rest of Conservative caucus walking out of the chamber in protest.
Baby, grandparents among 4 people killed in wrong-way police chase on Ontario's Hwy. 401
A police chase which started with a liquor store robbery in Bowmanville Monday night ended in tragedy some 20 minutes later when a suspect fleeing police entered Highway 401 in the wrong direction and caused a pileup which killed an infant and the child's grandparents, as well as the suspect, investigators say.
Freeland leaves capital gains tax change out of coming budget implementation bill, here's why
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will be tabling yet another omnibus bill to pass a sweeping range of measures promised in her April 16 federal budget, though left out of the legislation will be the government's proposed capital gains tax change.
Sword-wielding man attacks passersby in London, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring 4 others
A man wielding a sword attacked members of the public and police officers in a northeast London suburb Tuesday, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring four other people, British authorities said.
Man dies after suffering cardiac arrest while waiting in ER, widow wants investigation
When an ambulance took David Lippert to the hospital in March of 2023, the 68-year-old Kitchener, Ont., executive was hoping to find out why he was feeling weak and unable to walk. Some 24 hours later, he was found unresponsive in the ER.
CSE says it shared information on Chinese hacking of parliamentarians in 2022
While several MPs and senators say they were only recently made aware of China-backed hackers targeting them, the Communications Security Establishment, one of Canada's intelligence agencies, says it shared information about the incident with parliamentary officials in June of 2022.
WATCH Arnold Schwarzenegger spotted filming in Elora, Ont.
The name of the project has not been officially released although it’s widely believed to be the Netflix series FUBAR.
Eviction for landlord's use was legitimate, despite owners' partial move, B.C. court rules
A B.C. judge has upheld the eviction of a family from their North Vancouver townhouse, finding that the landlords did not take an unreasonable amount of time to move into the home after the tenants vacated it.