At a Glance
- Brett and Laura Ashbach spent 60 hours each crafting a 12-foot rainbow igloo from 700+ colored ice blocks
- Their children helped pick colors, place blocks, and watched daily progress with excitement
- An unexpected warm spell melted half the structure, forcing a complete rebuild
- The glowing igloo became a neighborhood hit and drew 22 million views online
A Minnesota couple turned a routine winter day into a viral sensation by building a towering rainbow igloo that lit up their front yard and attracted millions of online fans.
From Snow-Day Idea to 700-Block Masterpiece
Brett Ashbach, 42, and Laura, 39, wanted a family project that celebrated Minnesota’s harsh winter. Using 8-by-8-inch aluminum tins, they froze water tinted with food coloring, creating bricks in every shade. Each block needed one to two days to solidify, and purple gave the most trouble-often freezing into murky gray.
Their kids chose the front-yard spot, stamped out a perfect 12-foot circle, and helped position each block. At bedtime they raced downstairs the next morning to see fresh layers that Mom and Dad had added under -20 to 10 °F night skies.
Construction, Collapse, and Comeback
The couple bonded layers with a slush of five gallons of snow and up to two gallons of water, adding only one or two rings per night after finishing full-time jobs. Walls thickened to three or four inches, sturdy enough for the family to sit inside.
Mid-build, an unforecast warm spell melted half the igloo. They started over, eventually completing a seven-foot-tall interior space nearly 12 feet across. A hidden PVC pipe fed an extension cord for an LED light that made colored ice glow like stained glass after dark.
Neighborhood Attraction and Online Explosion
Cars slowed nightly to stare. Once finished, the Ashbachs hosted an igloo party with hot chocolate, s’mores, and pizza delivered to the snow steps. They posted a video simply to preserve the memory; it surged past 22 million views.
As spring arrived, Brett burst through the wall Kool-Aid-Man-style for a planned takedown. The break, Laura says, oddly resembled the shape of Africa.
The response has inspired the family’s new social media handle: @WhatWillWeThinkOfNext. Laura’s takeaway for other parents: “If your kids ever ask you to build an igloo-or dream up something wildly creative-just say yes. Make the time. It’s completely worth it.”
