BURLINGTON — In the small town of Burlington, Wyoming, a 27-foot-tall snowman is the first eye-catcher. But take a closer look, and nearly 400 more personalized snowmen can be found scattered around.
Pauline Parker, of Burlington, started making snowmen for everyone in her town long before winter.
“I started in July, and I thought, well, I’ll do everybody in Burlington one, which was 142 houses,” Parker said on Wednesday. “I think snowmen bring joy to you.”
Parker doesn't just make one snowman for every family, she makes a snowman for every family member. So, she's made more snowmen than the Burlington population sign says, which is just 314.
“My last count was 316,” Parker. “You can find brown-eyed snowman, or blue or green.”
Word quickly spread to neighboring towns and the residents wanted snowmen of their own, so Parker delivered. The town of Otto now has snowmen surrounding the baseball field. On the other side of Burlington, the town of Emblem, population 10, also has snowmen. She gave one family a nice surprise in Emblem.
“Emblem’s sign says population 10 and there’s exactly 10 of them, and they took a picture in front of that sign. And I recreated that picture (for their snowmen),” Parker said.
Parker's passion for spreading joy has made this small town even more tight-knit. She got students from kindergarten to seniors at the school involved in painting decorations for the town's second annual holiday celebration.
“(Pauline's) a super great person. She's super nice,” said high school student Cailee Degstein.
Throughout December, Parker is also holding a community snowman scavenger hunt with a 20-question search for different snowmen in Burlington, Emblem and Otto. If the sheet is filled up, Parker will award the person with a snowman treat.
“It just brought us all together so, we’ll do it again," Parker said.
