Boy Scouts get creative, local crews get to work after 12 inches of snow blankets the North Shore

Kenilworth’s newest resident may be missing the corncob pipe, but the button nose and two eyes made out of coal are accounted for.

After more than a foot of snow fell on the North Shore over the weekend, Boy Scout Troop 13 built a large-scale snowman on Sunday, Jan. 31, in the Kenilworth trademark fountain at Kenilworth Avenue and Richmond Road.

Kenilworth Village Manager Patrick Brennan facilitated the project by reaching out to Bob Dold, one of the troop’s leaders, and asked if a few Scouts would be interested in building the snowman.

“With the Village fountain (project) sidelined until spring, that space was looking pretty sparse,” Brennan said in an email to The Record North Shore.

Brennan hopes the new “temporary resident” will be around for a few weeks, and reflected on what a small project like this means for the town.

“Kenilworth has the magical charm of a 1920’s small town with 21st century values,” he added in the email. “This type of volunteerism is really nice to see.”

North Shore towns turned to their social media pages to report weather and parking alerts, plus snowfall totals, with the Village of Glencoe reporting 12 inches of snowfall throughout the event Saturday-Sunday, Jan. 30-31.

The Village of Wilmette reported between 9-13 inches in one of its updates.

The Village of Glencoe anticipated completing snow removal efforts on residential sidewalks by late today, Monday, Feb. 1, and told The Record that Public Works crews worked from continuously for 26 hours starting at 5 p.m. Saturday, compiling 600 manhours and dropping 250 tons of salt.

Glencoe Police also urged residents on social media to stay off ice and snow drifts on Lake Michigan.

“Snow covered Lake Michigan may look beautiful but please stay off the ice and snow drifts,” a tweet from the Glencoe Police Department reads. “They are not stable and hollow underneath.”

As of Monday morning in Wilmette, the villagewide parking ban had been lifted. 

In Winnetka, there was still an active snow removal street parking ban as of Monday morning, per the Village website. 

There is not any active alerts in Northfield; however, the Village asked residents to clear snow around fire hydrants. 

“Northfielders are encouraged to help the Fire-Rescue Department by clearing three feet of snow around fire hydrants and a path to the street in case they are needed for firefighting efforts,” a Facebook post from the Village reads.