You’ve heard of a scarecrow festival, right? How about a snowman festival?
I have to admit, this is a completely shameless post. The Clifton-upon-Dunsmore Snowman Festival is an event that I organised for our village. I actually don’t care if it comes across as self-indulgent though, because it’s turned out to be better than I could’ve ever expected!
Clifton-upon-Dusmore Snowman Festival
Throughout December 2020, over 40 snow people have moved into our village as part of a trail.
The awesome residents of Clifton-upon-Dunsmore have really put their creativity to the test.
You can see from these photos there are some amazing creations, and a lot of effort has gone into them.
Along the way, you’ll find characters like The Very Hungry Snow-caterpillar, The Snowman and Snowdog, and even a melted Donald Trump.
Some of the displays are just genius! Whatever scale or skills have gone into it however, it’s been really well received by the community.
Organising the snowman festival
I set about putting the feelers out for this just after Halloween.
Last year, I organised a Christmas advent windows event, where people unveiled their display each night. That was back in the days of being able to mingle and socialise, however.
So this year, I had to think outside of the box to make sure it was COVID-19 safe.
We have a village Facebook group, and I put some options on there for people to pick. A snowman festival was our winner, because it didn’t involve gatherings of any kind. It was simply a walk around our village, which most of us do daily anyway.
A feel good community project
The locals have all expressed what a lift the snowman festival has given them.
Creating the displays has given people something to take their minds off the doom and gloom of lockdown, and it’s evident that they’ve enjoyed doing it.
For the visitors walking around, there have been many positive comments about how lovely it has been to have something to look forward to.
For everyone else, the snowman have raised a smile, given the kids some new scenery for the walks they’ve been doing for what feels like forever.
It really has created a warm and gooey feeling to end a year that hasn’t felt quite so happy.
How to visit our snowpeople
We’ve created a map so that you can find all of the snowpeople easily.
We are current in tier 3 (booooo), therefore I don’t want to encourage people to leave their areas. For locals to Rugby however, the festival will be up until the end of December for walking visitors.
There’s even the option to vote and help some charities.
You can donate to vote for your favourite snowman display, with the money raised being split evenly between our school PTA and NHS Charities Together.