Giant snow woman draws attention in Omaha neighborhood

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Bold and brassy, a 20-foot-tall snow woman dubbed Quarantina wears only a hula skirt, a pie pan bra, a scarf and a medical mask in the face of the winter cold. Her size and outfit make for lots of double takes in Omaha’s Westgate neighborhood.

“We get a lot of people stopping and taking pictures,” said Ken Kirkpatrick, whose front yard just northwest of the intersection of 72nd and Grover Streets hosts the imposing snow woman. “One of the guys just said, ‘I’ve got to bring my neighbor back here.’ People are coming and going all day.”

Quarantina, named by the children who helped build her, provides a spark for the neighborhood in the clutches of winter, Ben Taggett told the Omaha World-Herald. He helped in the snow woman’s five-hour construction and also was on the crew that built an 18-foot snowman in the Kirkpatrick yard in 2019.

“We were watching the snow forecast (last week) and we were thinking, ‘This is going to be good weather for making another snowman,’” Ken Kirkpatrick said. “We knew it was going to be prime conditions.”

Taggett and his children, Sloane and Nolan, live around the corner. They were thinking right along with the Kirkpatrick family.

“We had the big snowstorm last week and knew conditions were good,” Taggett said.“On Saturday, Melissa sent out a text of just a snowman. We put on our gear and brought our shovels,” he said.

Construction started about 1 p.m. and progressed with Ken Kirkpatrick climbing a ladder higher and higher as chunks of snow were handed up to him. The other builders were Chelsey Erpelding, Bette Kosterpelding, Kelsey Kirkpatrick and Kennedy Kirkpatrick.

The snow woman project came off without any accidents or injuries. Everyone, however, reported some sore muscles as they surveyed their handiwork Sunday morning.

Quarantina’s Hawaiian-themed outfit is a nod to thoughts of winter receding and warmer days arriving, Melissa Kirkpatrick said. Besides, the snow woman’s attire is just plain fun and elicits lots of comments.

The decision to have a medical mask cover Quarantina’s mouth is a sign of the times, her husband said. Everyone, he said, is looking forward to the day there is no more need to wear masks.

“Hopefully, she lasts a couple of weeks,” Kirkpatrick said. “If we get another snow and weather gives us the opportunity to build (bigger), I’d like to do that. We’d have to get a bigger ladder, though.”