Tignish boys build snow boat sculpture to honour late great-grandfather

With the Tignish Winter Carnival underway, three boys have created a large snow sculpture of a fishing boat in honour of their late great-grandfather.

The boat mirrors the real lobster fishing boat captained by their great-grandfather Richard Hogan, who died in June 2018. Like its real-life counterpart, the snow sculpture also bears the name Lady Erica — named after the boys' mother, Erica Perry.

Perry says the boys, Bailey, Chase and Blaze, created the sculpture after school Tuesday, spending all afternoon and evening getting it done.

"It was pretty time-consuming that evening," she said. "Their cousin had got off the bus that day and he helped and they got it done."

The youngest of the three children may not be old enough to do a lot of work, but he pitched in when he could, she added, and their stepfather John helped too.

The snow vessel has windows and even wipers drawn on in spray paint, plus blue and green striped trim and numbers representing the kids' birthday dates.

"They were pretty happy to do it. They were pretty proud," she said.

'It brings me to tears'

Despite snow coming Thursday evening, the family hopes to keep the boat in good shape so relatives can get their picture taken in front of it.

"We're going to dig it out after the storm and hopefully get a picture with everybody," Perry said.

People have stopped by to see it and take pictures and "lots of cars" are slowing down to catch a glimpse of the sculpture, she said.

She shared pictures of the boat and her boys on Facebook where people applauded them for their hard work.

"I did not think it was going to be that big of a hit," Perry said.

Perry is happy and proud that her children took on the project and got it done in time for the winter carnival. 

"It brings me to tears, actually. It was very heartwarming to see it and how much they enjoyed it," she said.

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