March of the snowmen

A parade of 300 snowmen who've become old friends to Sonoma-area residents and visitors alike is back again this year off Highway 121, illuminated day and night along the rolling terrain south of town.

The brainchild of David Allen, designer and owner of Artefact Design & Salvage at Cornerstone Gardens, the molded plastic snowmen are not necessarily intended as high art, but art, nonetheless.

After their first appearance in 2004 -- when Allen sold many of the 40-inch men at $50 apiece to raise money for the Wilmar Center for Bereaved Children -- the displays became a bit gimmicky, he said.

A few penguins were added the next year, and after that, a cannon from which some of the snowmen were shot.

"I realized what this was to me in the first place was a large installation piece of art," Allen said Saturday. "It wasn't about snowmen doing silly things. It was a landform art basically. So I said, 'You know? We're going to go back to that. Just very clean.' "

But still fun, and still cheery.

Allen said he's not beyond making subtle changes that only the most astute viewers will notice as the holiday season goes on.

Alas, anyone who may be interested in buying one is out of luck. After selling close to 300 snowmen over the first two years to raise money for charities, Allen learned that the only American producer had gone out of business.

He's unwilling to part with the specimens he has left, but said, "Maybe next year we'll find another source."