BRIGHTON SNOWMAN CONTEST JUDGES ANNOUNCE WINNERS

From a snow shark stained blue complete with teeth, to a picture-perfect traditional snowman, the winners have been chosen and announced in the 20222023 edition of the Brighton Snowman Contest.

Brighton Snowman Contest judges met recently in downtown Brighton to review this year's contest entries and choose their favourites in a variety of categories. Ricardo Melendro, Brighton Snowman Contest organizer, said the judges were impressed with the creations and he was pleased with the level of participation by Brightonians in the second annual contest. "There were such short windows" for ideal snowman-building conditions," Melendro said.

"We had snow, but it was not always packing snow."

But when the weather was right, residents eagerly played in the snow, built creations, and uploaded their photos to the Brighton Snowman Contest Facebook group to submit their entries.

"The (Brighton Snowman Contest) group is now at 180 people, which is nice to see," Melendro added.

This is the second year for the snowman contest.

Melendro arrived at the idea during the 2022 winter months of the pandemic. Getting outdoors, being active and having fun were his reasons for launching the municipality-wide contest.

Without further ado, here are the winners:

• Honourable mention: K9 Fit

• Honourable mention: Brittany Levesque

• Most traditional snowman: Brooklyn Kenney

• Most creative: Karen McAllister and family

• Best animal: Jennelle

Sleeman Payne and family

• Best junior: Shaambhavi Parihar

McAllister and family, who created the shark, said it took close to two hours to build. They used food colouring in spray bottles to make the shark blue.

Melendro will be in touch with the winners. Prizes, which include gift cards for local merchants, will be awarded.

To see all of the entries, visit the Brighton Snowman Contest Facebook group.