Frosty Friday: Bringing Frosty to Life

This week we want to take a moment to thank the many members of our community who have donned the title of Frosty and brought the magic to life.

Despite being a physically demanding role within the Frosty Festival, the Festival has never lacked volunteers to don the Frosty costume. 

"It was never a problem to get anyone to do it, and that was a very difficult job. One who was Frosty mascot for years was Phyllis Hogarth...she did that for years and loved it."- Agnes Murphy, 2020

Many people who we have talked to and many of our social community have mentioned the joy that Phyllis Hogarth brought to the role of Frosty. 

"I remember early memories of a lady who was from our church I believe, Phyllis Hogarth, she might’ve been a Frosty, dressed up as Frosty." - Stephanie Collins, 2020 

Harvey Hodder assisting Phyllis Hogarth in 1985. 
Image courtesy of the City of Mount Pearl. 

Phyllis was involved with the Frosty Festival from beginning and spent many years donning the different iterations of the the Frosty costume. Mount Pearl will always remember the contributions of Phyllis to the development of the Frosty Festival. 

Phyllis Hogarth as Frosty in 1997. 
Image courtesy of the City of Mount Pearl.

Over the years as the festival grew, so did the number of volunteers who donned the Frosty suit. One of our interviewees, Pat Walsh, recalled his experience appearing as Frosty: 

"We did have a couple of people, regulars, but we had so many activities on the go that they couldn’t be everywhere, all the time, for all kinds of commitments, so I ended up dressing up as Frosty. A real taste of, oh my heavens, this is hot in here, this is warm, how do these younger people stand this? I was certainly older than those young men. It was fun, you’d get in, and me, I’d jump around and dance, I was always able to carry on and wave to people, there’d be so many people I know. I’d pose for pictures, and just carry on generally.” - Pat Walsh, 2020

The role of Frosty is a vital part of the festival and Frosty's presence at virtually every event during the festival is a testament to the dedication, vitality and love of all those who have donned the Frosty suit. 

"They’re at every function and they try to make sure that from the smallest in numbers function whether it be a 10 or 20 [person] gathering to the several thousands at the different functions, is that Frosty will always make an appearance. So they want to make everybody feel that, hey oh you came to the lottery this afternoon, there’s only 20 people who came here, you’re just as important a visit for Frosty as you are at the say, Irish night or at the dinner theatre, or the variety show” - Dave Lythgoe, 2020

If you have memories of the Mount Pearl Frosty Festival, share them online at https://bit.ly/2H6vrZb.

Admiralty House Communications Museum will also be collecting photographs from the community to scan for this project. If you have photographs you are willing to share please contact the research team at admiraltyhouse@mountpearl.ca.