Snow Abe in person

Photos © David B. Wiegers 2009

Updated Feb. 1, 2009 at 11:45 a.m.

This story keeps getting cooler (no pun intended). David Weigers just sent me a link to the story in yesterday’s Daily Herald with a picture of the artist Joe Gagnepain putting the finishing touches on the sculpture. What a delight it was to see Gagnepain’s resemblance to his subject! Thanks for the link, Dave.

And, another bit of exciting news is that Gagnepain thinks the sculpture will last for a few weeks, so you’ve still got time to get to Aurora to see it.

Original article

I told you the other day about an Abraham Lincoln ice sculpture event in Aurora (Ill.). My Lincoln buff friend, David Wiegers of Gurnee (Ill.), originally tipped me off to the event and offered to provide pictures. He went to Aurora yesterday morning and generously shared his images so the rest of us can see Snow Abe, too.

I think sculptor Joe Gagnepain and his crew did a pretty neat job capturing Abe in snow - right down to the mole above his right lip and his unkempt hair. Wiegers says the statue "must be 10 feet tall."

Wiegers is great to keep me up to speed on other Lincoln sculpture event unveilings he's attending in celebration of the Bicentennial of Lincoln's birth and in preparation for his upcoming book documenting all Lincoln sculptures in the U.S. (tentatively due out in 2010). I'll be sure to share the news as he gets it to me.

A special thanks to Dave Weigers for faithfully reading my blog, sharing news in the Lincoln world and making a trip to Aurora to capture the Lincoln Portrait before it melted.