The recent snowfalls were all the motivation needed for 27-year-old Oxford resident Karl Oxlade and his friends to cause quite a stir at his father’s home on Woodleigh Way Dr. in the Oxford Lakes subdivision.
Oxlade, who moved to Oxford from England three years ago, and his friend Ben Logan, 23, were the masterminds behind the construction of a 22-foot tower of snow and ice in the front yard of his father’s house.
They began work on Monday, Feb. 22 and spent countless hours shoveling and packing snow into bricks.
‘It was a couple of 12-hour days and couple half days. The main tower and the front wall was done in about three-four days,? Oxlade added.
The original idea was to build a massive snowman after Logan and Oxlade were talking about Karl’s 16-and-a-half foot snowman that he and his friends built in the French Alps.
‘My friend Ben said he wanted to build a snowman and we said well, we might as well try to beat it,? Oxlade explained.
‘I came over the next day and knocked on his door asked his mom if her 27-year-old son could come out and play in the snow with me,? said Logan, who is a 2005 graduate of Oxford High School. ‘We started and it just kept going and going. The higher it got, the more people got involved. It ended up being a tower instead of a snowman, but it’s pretty cool.?
Logan and Oxlade received help from Oxlade’s brother Matthew, a senior at OHS, and friends Demi Dimitri, Mark Tarrant and Mike Murphy, all from Oxford.
Tarrant, who attends Oakland University, spent his spring break helping construct the wonderment on Woodleigh Way.
The initial idea was to build a tower and carve a snowman out of it upon completion.
‘We had ladders around the back and basically we worked it all the way around, and we built it brick by brick and filling in the center. It’s completely solid in the middle,? Oxlade said.
The group started off by using snow from the front and back of Oxlade’s home, but they moved on to the house next door when they ran out.
When the neighbors saw what was happening, they graciously volunteered the use of snow that was on their driveway and sidewalks for the project.
They packed 70 pound garbage containers full of snow over 150 times during construction of the tower. All together the buckets were used over 250 times.
However they soon realized they were going to have problems putting on a head when they reached 20 feet.
‘We were building the blocks up, and we were working on how we were trying to get the head on top, and we were hitting nearly 20 feet,? explained Oxlade.
A conflict arose when some people wanted to continue with a snowman, while others wanted to turn it into a tower. In order to please both sides, a little snowman was built. It currently resides on top of the tower.
Windows were made by freezing water on cookie baking sheets.
They did all of this without the knowledge of Oxlade’s father, Mark, who was away on business. To say he was surprised when he got home would be an understatement.
‘He didn’t know anything about it. He pulled up Friday night and he was like what the bloody….it was pretty funny,? said Oxlade.?
‘First of all, I couldn’t see my house, and I was like where’s my house,? said Oxlade’s father, Mark, referring to when he first came home that evening. ‘It was a little bit odd, and I was trying to comprehend and take it in. I was like here’s my house, but what the heck is that doing there. It was cool.?
It hasn’t only been Oxlade’s father who has been amazed. Once word got out, people were stopping by and taking pictures with their families by the tower, telling them that what they were doing was pretty cool.
Their surprise was almost ruined when people started posting pictures on Facebook. The pictures were taken down because Oxlade’s father has a Facebook page.
‘We wanted to keep it a secret,? said Oxlade.
Now all of the kids in the neighborhood are building blocks in their yard, said Mark Oxlade.
Oxlade named it Windsor Castle, which is the home of the Queen of England when she does not stay at Buckingham Palace. It proudly displays the flags of where the builders originally came from: a British flag for Karl and Matthew Oxlade, a Canadian flag for Logan and an American flag for Murphy and Tarrant.
The only flag they are missing is a Ukraine flag for Demitri because they could not get it off of the internet in time.
‘Everything is natural on it,? said Logan. ‘Some people think that it might have a wood core, but everything is made out of snow.’pictures with their families by the tower, telling them that what they were doing was pretty cool.
Their surprise was almost ruined when people started posting pictures on Facebook. The pictures were taken down on the account that Oxlade’s father has a Facebook page.
‘We wanted to keep it a secret,? said Oxlade.
Now all of the kids in the neighborhood are building blocks in their yard said Mark Oxlade.
Oxlade named it Windsor Castle, which is the home of the Queen of England when she does not stay at Buckingham Palace. It proudly displays the flags of where the builders originally from: a British flag for Karl and Matthew Oxlade, a Canadian flag for Logan and an American flag for Murphy and Tarrant.
The only flag they are missing is a Ukraine flag for Demitri because they could not get it off of the internet in time.
‘Everything is natural on it,? said Logan. ‘Some people think that it might have a wood core, but everything is made out of snow.?