Massapequa Park family’s snowman survives rain, warmth

A little wet weather won’t derail the Fregoe family’s goal of keeping through the spring a snowman they’ve built in the front yard of their Massapequa Park home.

Before the rain hit Monday night, Mike Fregoe and his daughter Julia, 11, added fresh snow to their snowman, then tightly wrapped it in plastic. Fregoe, 51, then climbed to the top of an extension ladder to plant a large beach umbrella into the top of the 14-foot snowman’s head, anchoring it in place with rope.

Fregoe said Tuesday the snowman is “looking a little thinner” and has “probably lost a few pounds” from the heavy rain. But it has fared surprisingly well against the strong winds and climbing temperatures.

In the coming days, the family plans to strip the snowman of its “raincoat” and replace the umbrella with a green top hat in preparation for St. Patrick’s Day, Fregoe said.

Last year, the family crowdsourced their snowman, soliciting contributions of snow through a Save the Snowman Facebook page. Fregoe said the page, which now has close to 3,700 followers, prompted dozens of people to bring buckets of powder from all over Long Island and as far as Vermont, keeping the slowly melting snowman standing until April 20.

As the weather warms this year, they’ll again be rely on donations of snow, Fregoe said.

“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.”