Snow Angels

A couple of folks have emailed to ask about the Snow Angel Record breaking attempt, so I thought I'd tell you about it.

In 2002, Bismarck established the snow angel record with 1,791 people simultaneously making snow angels on the Capitol grounds. The record stuck despite a few attempts from NY residents to break it until 2006 when Houghton, MI broke it with 3,784 people. So, the goal was to have 5,000 people at the state capitol here in Bismarck to break the record.

Adam and I went since Scott was working and met up with some friends there. I foolishly thought that we'd have time to register then visit the Heritage Center before making snow angels. But when we pulled into the capitol grounds, I realized I had been crazy! We parked and hiked up the hill (yes there are hills in Bismarck) to the Heritage Center where we registered with a volunteer dressed as an angel. There was hot cocoa and cookies for sale as well as snow angel t-shirts. I wisely didn't bring my purse.

Promptly at 1pm, all 8,911 of us dropped into the powdery snow and flapped our arms and legs. The official count is supposed to be released this week by the Guinness Book of Records, but the event organizer gave the count as 8,911. Governor and Mrs. Hoeven were both there as was a lady celebrating her 99th birthday. Evidently the story made national news and even the big papers. I forgot my camera but here are some photos taken from atop the capitol building:

Notice the clever folks dressed in red forming a cross? Bismarck people are so cool! Adam and I are somewhere in the blurry whiteness towards the top of the smaller picture. The funny thing? For a few minutes, the capitol lawn was the 10th largest population center in ND!