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N.D. to try for snow-angel record again

AMY TABORSKY/Tribune Marilyn Snyder, left, and Ronda Berg, co-chairs for the snow angel making, record breaking which is scheduled for December 26 on the lawn of the capitol in Bismarck.

Oct 07, 2006 - 02:05:45 CDT

Bismarck Tribune

By VIRGINIABy VIRGINIAGRANTIER

Michigan heard recently about North Dakota's plans.

Michigan may be very, very afraid.

But so far, that's not readily apparent.

A graduating senior at Michigan Technological University seemed fairly composed as he shared some other emotions with the Bismarck Tribune on Thursday.

Some of the first words out of the mouth of Paul Judge, an MTUsenior majoring in biological sciences and pre-med, were "empathetic and sympathetic" when he heard what North Dakota plans to do at 1 p.m. Dec. 26.

On that day, North Dakota plans to grab back what MTU took away several months ago - North Dakota's place in the Guinness Book of Records for the most snow angels made simultaneously.

He says he understands why Bismarck probably needs the record back.

"I try to to be empathetic and sympathetic toward you in the Bismarck region who perhaps need to take pride in something,"he said and laughed.

He has some advice for Bismarck's Marilyn Snyder - whose brainchild it was to establish a snow angel record back when the Guinness Book of Records had no such category and who is now heading up the get-it-back attempt for December.

Judge, an organizer for MTU's record-snatching event that happened on Feb.10, said he wishes Snyder luck but wanted to remind her of something:

"Ihope she understands that in order to break the snow angel record, she's going to have to have snow,"he said.

He seems to recall that Bismarck didn't have much for the last attempt, and generously offered, "in an effort of fair play and sportsmanship,"to let North Dakota borrow some in December from MTU, which will probably have several feet by then.

MTU is now calling itself the snow capital of the world - now that it not only has captured North Dakota's record, but also broke two other Guinness records, for largest snowball and biggest snowball fight.

Bismarck established the new snow angel Guinness category on March 23, 2002, when 1,791 people dropped and flapped on the snow in front of the state Capitol.

MTU students, not content, apparently, to concentrate on their science fair projects, decided to break North Dakota's record this year.

On MTU's football field, 3,784 people, including a number of school-children excused from school, participated in the record-breaking event.

Snyder, the curator of education for the Historical Society of North Dakota, is still tsk-tsking about Michigan's decision to put snow angels ahead of little children's classroom education. And she would like to be responsible for putting MTU in time-out for a quite a long time.

"They were pretty boisterous,"she said. "I think they need to be calmed down a bit."

Snyder isn't jumping at Judge's snow offer. She has other help, from above. And from her mom.

Snyder said that she is recruiting her mother, again, to take care of the snow needs.

She explained that, several days before the 2002 attempt, there was absolutely no snow. So she recruited her mother and her mother's prayer group to start praying for 6 inches of snow. On Thursday, before the Saturday attempt, the first snowflake fell and by snow angel day there were 51/2 inches. Snyder said her mother already has been notified that another snow job needs to be done.

Now for the people.

Snyder would like to settle the situation, end the beginnings of this tug of war, once and for all.

Her goal is to get 10,000 people to gather on the Capitol grounds on Dec. 26, enough people she thinks to keep the record once and for all.

"We want to put it to bed so they can't ever beat it again,"she said.

To get those kinds of numbers, Snyder, co-chair of the event, along with Ronda Berg, administrative officer for the state Capitol's facility management department, are putting together a week's worth of events, music and entertainment, to draw people to the Capitol.

Most of the events will be held inside the Capitol.

But the first item of business, at 1 p.m. Dec. 26, will be in the snow.

The second probably will be to call the MTU techies and suggest they concentrate on making a record more up their alley - such as making the most simultaneous right angles.

(Reach reporter Virginia Grantier at 250-8254 or at virginia.grantier@;bismarcktribune.com.)

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Comments

Mike wrote on Oct 17, 2006 3:53 AM:

" Take the snowball fight record too? Haha, where do you plan to get the snow from? The only way you'll break the records is if you put everyone on Greyhound and ship them to Houghton. See that picture, that's what it will look like in December too. "

D-Day wrote on Oct 16, 2006 6:54 PM:

" I wonder how much space 10,000 snow angels takes? Should we work in the obesity rate? "

snow-hoser wrote on Oct 16, 2006 1:25 PM:

" The population of Houghton is only 7,000, so it would be pretty hard for MTU to beat a record of 8-10,000... "

Mel in Mi wrote on Oct 16, 2006 1:18 PM:

" We will prevail! We are engineers and we will drink more beers to stay warm! "

Trollster, Traverse City wrote on Oct 10, 2006 6:05 PM:

" Oh yeah, one more thing, in the spirit of fair play. Our new friends in North Dakota need to remember the wise, age old words that everyone associated with Tech knows and lives by... "Watch out where the Huskies go, and don't you eat that yellow snow!" Here endth the lesson. "

Trollster, Traverse City wrote on Oct 10, 2006 5:43 PM:

" Hey, hey, hey! Stop it now! No bickering. This is a friendly competition, and regardless of who eventually wins, everybody should all go to Shute's in Calumet, MI (a mere 12 miles north of Tech in the Keweenaw) for a pickled egg and a brewski or two, or tree or... a Copper Country institution since the 1880's... to calm down and to celebrate OR to congratulate! (Oh, did I mention I own Shute's? No? Huh! Must have slipped my mind.) Anyway, may Heikki Luunta smile on the winner! And as always, "Play nice and let the competition begin!" Oh the weather outside is frightful... let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!! "

Peter_Walden wrote on Oct 10, 2006 11:58 AM:

" "still tsk-tsking about Michigan's decision to put snow angels ahead of little children's classroom education." Participating in this helped the children more than reading them a story about a purple dinosaur. "

Todd VanDyke wrote on Oct 10, 2006 8:25 AM:

" Gosh, a friendly rivalry can be a friendly rivalry, but why does Ms. Grantier seem so mean-spirited about it? Surely this article could have been written without her petty trashing of the good students who come from all over the world to attend Michigan Tech. "Simultaneous right angles?" "Science fair projects?" Such comments are the remarks of a shallow, grasping writer. "

MTU Steve wrote on Oct 9, 2006 5:04 PM:

" RodM--Paul Judge IS a jerk, but we love him anyway. Particularly because he's right. ;D "

Frank wrote on Oct 9, 2006 8:27 AM:

" From some of the comments, should we consider changing this to a snow devil competition... "

MTUWally[MB] wrote on Oct 8, 2006 10:14 PM:

" I believe that Bismark has VASTLY underestimated the abilities of Engineers when motivated by revenge/competition. I have no fear that Bismark, ND will not hold this title for very long... "

Jester wrote on Oct 8, 2006 7:09 PM:

" North Dakota has 10,000 people? ;-) "

SnoBird wrote on Oct 8, 2006 5:59 PM:

" I'm 1000 miles away, literally. I love snow and I love Bismarck. I think it would be worth the trip to add my set of wings. See you after Christmas! "

RodM wrote on Oct 8, 2006 12:40 AM:

" Hey Paul Judge, we need something to take pride in?!. What the heck is that supposed to mean? You just belittled yourself for insulting an entire city. You sound like a big jerk, why don't you bury yourself in the 7 feet of snow the next time you get a chance. "

Count me in also wrote on Oct 7, 2006 4:13 PM:

" I'll be there to help out and why stop at the snow angel record. If we have 10,000 snow angels, have each of them start throwing snowballs also. MTU took our record, lets take ours back and one of theirs. "

Count me in... wrote on Oct 7, 2006 2:05 PM:

" Will be returning from Iraq, and I cannot wait to take part in this. Tell everyone you see, family, friends, people you see on the street, make a day of it. How hard is it to flop on the snow and flap your arms and legs? When was the last time you made a snow angel? Come on North Dakota let's do this. *I'll see you all there!* "

Jerry wrote on Oct 7, 2006 11:22 AM:

" I participated in the first snow angels project. I have carried the postcard depicting the N.D snow angels all around the U.S. as I was traveling and the fact that North Dakotans established the first snow angel record astounded everyone I talked to. We need to re-establish our record and break it with at least 8,000 to 10,000 people. Come on N.D - let's just do it! "

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