What took nearly 60 sculptors two and a half days to create took Coco and his bulldozer about an hour to destroy.
The 18 snow sculptures that made up the Vulcan’s Hot Time in the Park — a St. Paul Winter Carnival event on the Minnesota State Fairgrounds — included a Tom Sawyer fence-painting entry, a couple of wooly mammoths frolicking in a hot tub and an ode to morning farm chores.
Competitors spent days carving blocks of packed snow into the fanciful shapes. Organizers estimate about 100,000 people stopped by the Fair to see the sculptures.
But with the carnival ending last weekend, the carvings had to come down.
“I’d love to watch ’em melt,” said event co-chair Pat Mogren, but for liability reasons, the monuments — some more nearly 10 feet tall — had to be smashed.
That’s where Coco came in.
“I don’t know if that’s his real name or a nickname,” said Mogren during the demo Thursday afternoon. Mogren’s cousin, owner of the bulldozer, usually does the work but couldn’t make this year’s dismantling.
The sound of the bulldozer driving through the masses of snow in subzero temperatures was like hearing giant pieces of Styrofoam ripped apart — unnerving.
“It just makes me sick to see them take them down,” said Dolores Digerness of Roseville, touring the site with her sister Virginia Matheny of Lauderdale. “They’re beautiful and intricate. It’s just amazing to me.”
John Brewer can be reached at 651-228-2093.
Copyright 2011 Pioneer Press.