WILTON – One does not usually clean snow off a snowman, but that’s what David Boucher was doing on Friday afternoon to preserve “Frosty,” a hay sculpture beside Route 2 at Pigley’s Treasures.

Pigley’s Treasures owner Clista Stevens of Strong had “Frosty,” a nearly 21-foot-tall snowman, built in front of her store at 471B Route 2 in East Wilton a few weeks ago.

“It’s been up for a couple of weeks, but most cars go by at 60 mph, so those people don’t even know this building exists,” Stevens said of her business.

Early Friday afternoon, Boucher, also from Strong, was using a brush on a 12-foot-long extension pole to sweep accumulated snow off Frosty to preserve the sculpture of hay.

Stevens opened Pigley’s 18 months ago, selling antiques, gifts, collectibles, books, used furniture and more.

Wanting to drum up business this winter and help Farmington chain saw artist Ted Walker, she hired Walker and Norman Stevens to build Frosty last month.

Norman Stevens, 24, is her ex-husband’s son who has been living with her in Strong. He is a wounded veteran being treated at the veterans hospital in Augusta for shell shock from mortar explosions he endured while serving in Iraq, Clista Stevens said.

The two men used 120 hay bales and painted them grayish white to simulate snow. It took three full weeks of work to create the 20-foot-tall snowman.

Pigley’s Frosty has three black buttons and a large black top hat, a colorful scarf, two sinuous arms of hay, and a long orange carrot-like nose in between a smiling mouth and two big blue eyes.

She is charging a small fee for posed pictures with the giant snowman or laminated posters, hoping to recover the cost of Frosty’s creation.

“Most places, you can go and have your picture taken with Santa, but Santa’s only 6 feet tall,” Clista Stevens said.

The business is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Monday, and Thursday through Saturday, and from noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday and closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. For more information, call 645-3331.