A Newmarket father and son are making the most of all this snow by building an igloo on their front lawn.
Kerr Chen and his seven-year-old son used plastic bins to create snow bricks and stack them up into an igloo outside their house on Primrose Lane.
“After we cleared the driveway, there were some snow mountains beside the driveway, we thought 'we have to do something',” he said.
With the extreme cold weather, he said the snow has been really dry, so they had to add water to the snow to make the bricks stable.
They stacked the bricks to create the walls, which Chen said took about two days of working one to 1-1/2 hours each day. However, once they got to the roof, it took a little longer.
“It’s like building a house,” he said. “The difficult part is building a roof. Building a wall is easier because it is straight.”
With the roof, he said they had to cut the bricks to sit on an angle and work bit by bit, but after several days it was done. Chen said the whole project took no more than 10 days, but they still work on it adding touches here and there.
This is his second year building the ultimate snow fort. He and his family moved to Newmarket from Markham last summer, so his first fort was built at their home there.
As a tennis coach, Chen said he had a lot of free time in the winter during the pandemic.
“In the winter both last year and this year, the indoor courts are closed with COVID-19, so I lost my work,” he said. “I stayed at home and my son also stayed at home because the school was closed. So we had to do something.”
With so much snow falling this year, Chen decided they could upgrade the igloo.
“Last year, I put a light inside that was beautiful. Some light comes out from the door so I thought if there were windows it will be more beautiful,” he said.
He filled a bucket with water and put it out overnight to freeze. He then cut a whole in the wall of the igloo and put the ice circle in it to act as a window.
Chen said their igloo has been well received by their neighbours on the street and some of the younger kids love checking it out inside.
For Chen, he said all he wants to do is make Newmarket even more beautiful.
