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MONROE: Heat is on for snowman contest

By David Kilby, Staff Writer
   MONROE — Even though it seems winter is coming to a close, the Monroe Community Center still is accepting entries for its snow sculpture contest until the end of the month.
   Winners of the contest will be chosen and will receive a plaque at the April 18 Recreation Department meeting.
   Anthony Wilcenski, director of the Recreation Department, started the snow sculpture contest more than 20 years ago to offer another community outdoor activity that wasn’t a sport.
   ”It’s one of those quality of life events,” said Jay Brown, supervisor of the contest.
   ”We have some really clever and creative people in town,” said Claire Juraska, board recording secretary of the Recreation Department. “A lot of them (snow sculpture pictures) show families working together as a team, as a unit. I get choked up just thinking about it. It’s just great to see the families working together. I love all of the pictures.”
   Mr. Brown said, “We have thousands of children in sports programs, but also have a fishing derby, a kite flying event, a sand sculpture contest, an egg hunt, a Halloween parade and a holiday house decorating contest.”
   He added, “We like these events as much as the sports. They’re for people who aren’t into athletics as much.”
   He said these events help build pride in Monroe Township and bring together a large community that’s 43 square miles.
   As of Wednesday, there were about 22 snow sculpture entries. The contest is on until the end of March.
   ”We never know what the next week or two weeks will bring,” Mr. Brown said.
   The Recreation Department asks for participants of the contest to send in photos of their snow sculptures since it would be too difficult to come out and visit each one.
   A group of three or four recreation staff members will judge the snow sculptures, snowmen and snow-women. The winning sculptures will be announced at the April 18 meeting.
   The sculptures will be judged by their originality, the work that went into the sculpture, including the time and effort, and the ages of the participants.
   ”Sometimes, it won’t be the greatest looking snow-person, but it was a 4-year-old who built it so we also consider who put the effort in,” Mr. Brown said.
   Michelle Rogala and her family built a “mommy, daddy and baby snow family” for the contest.
   ”We built them with my 4-year-old,” she said. “When you buy those snowman packs, they only have stuff for one snowman so I had to get things out of the kitchen. Kids these days don’t have these kinds of experiences playing outside, just being outside and having fun. I wanted my daughter to experience that.”
   Dan Hofacker, of Guinevere Road, built a snowman on his front lawn after a storm in January with his five kids, Chris,10, Timmy,8, Kyle, 6, Kelly, 5, and Zachary, 3.
   ”The kids obviously had off that day,” he said.
   The family had received a snowman kit for Christmas, which provided them with the mouth and the eyes. Then they grabbed a broom from the garage to complete the snowman.
   ”It’s just a way to have some fun,” he said. “The sun had come out. It had been a rough winter, which is good if you’re a polar bear, but when you’re stuck in the house with five kids, it’s good to finally to get outside.”
   He said if another snowstorm comes, the family may build another snowman.
   ”Who knows if we’re going to get another storm or not?” he said.
   So, technically, the contest still is open until the end of the month, but some entries may be tough to defeat. Mr. Brown said the department had an entry where an entire family was inside the sculpture.
   ”We have snowmen, a mini-house, just many different things sent in,” he added. “We let people’s imagination run wild.”
   He added, “They color it, decorate it. Some of them are quite grandiose.
   About half of the entries are snowmen or women, Mr. Brown said, and the other half are sculptures of different themes.
   ”Its something to keep people busy during the winter months and brighten up their time,” he said. “We just feel it makes Monroe a nicer place to live and bring your children up in.”
   Entries started coming in after the first snowfall right after Christmas, and more came with every subsequent snowfall.
   ”This year, the snow lingered for so long,” Mr. Brown said. “It was on the ground for several weeks. It varies. Each year, it’s different. We just take it as it comes. We’re very flexible here at the Recreation Department as far as dealing with contests and overall. We’re here to serve the people.”
   The next contest hosted by the department will be the kite flying event at Daniel Ryan Football Complex on North State Home Road on April 16 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Residents are invited to bring kites and fly them in the football field.
   Kite flyers will be judged in four different categories: smallest kite, largest kite, most innovative kite and most visually appealing kite. Winners in each category will get a plaque.
   ”We just want people to come, get the kites up in the air and create a sense of pride in their community,” Mr. Brown said. “We are a rather large community. This is a way of bringing people together.”