Fregoe family of Massapequa Park aims to keep snowman alive through spring

Last year, the Fregoe family, of Massapequa Park, built a snowman in January that persevered into late April with the help of snow imported from all over Long Island and as far as Vermont.

This year, the Fregoes are at it again.

The snowman is more than 14-feet tall already, and the family hopes to keep it alive well into spring.

Mike Fregoe, 51, said he came up with the idea to crowdsource his snowman about a year ago, when he solicited contributions of snow through a Save the Snowman Facebook page.

Fregoe said the page, which now has close to 3,600 followers, prompted dozens of people last year to bring buckets full of powder to help keep the Fregoe’s slowly melting snowman remain standing until April 20.

Though the snowman was eventually overcome by the heat of spring, Fregoe stashed a handful of slush in his freezer with an eye toward rebuilding the snowman again this winter.

This year, Fregoe said he got a number of requests from Facebook users asking him to rebuild the snowman. So on Jan. 25, Fregoe pulled the snowball he had saved from last year out of his freezer and with the help of his daughters Julia, 11, and Rebecca, 16, slowly started putting together their new snowman.

“It can be a lot of work, especially when the weather starts to get warmer, but so many people enjoy it,” Fregoe said. “It makes it worthwhile.”

Last Sunday, before the Superbowl, Fregoe climbed to the top of his extension ladder and added more than a foot and a half of snow to the family’s snowman, which now stands at 14 feet, 6 inches tall — the biggest it’s ever been.

Fregoe says people came early this week to take pictures with the snowman, which has long wooden arms, a carrot nose and, when the sun’s out, an umbrella sticking out of its head to keep it cool.

Fregoe says it may become even larger if the snow continues to fall this week, vowing to “continue to build for as long as there’s snow.”