PORTSMOUTH HERALD

Snowball fight fun hits downtown Portsmouth

City official had warned against Market Square location

Elizabeth Dinan edinan@seacoastonline.com

PORTSMOUTH - About 100 people bundled up and met in Market Square, in the midst of the winter storm "Juno," for a pop-up snowball fight that closed Pleasant Street for about 45 minutes.

Snow-goggled groups gathered on either side of the street, each side waving a Jolly Roger flag, then began pummeling each other with snow as soon as the clock in the North Church chimed 1 p.m. Tuesday. While a police cruiser idled across the street, the young adults hollered and pitched ill-formed snowballs that fell apart mid-air, due to the fluffy texture of the fresh snow.

"Charge," yelled someone from a group gathered in front of the historic church, before dozens of people ran across the street to throw and kick up clouds of light snow at their opponents.

"I guess they gave up trying to make snowballs," said one of dozens of people who came out to watch the frozen spectacle.

Dogs yelped, cross-country skiers stopped to smile and a television crew from NH1 News parked a car in the middle of Pleasant Street, during a snow ban, to film the snow wars.

"Get the news car," someone yelled as the television car drove off and was pummeled with thrown snow.

Sean Sunderlin and his friend Craig Hedrick walked to the square from Kittery, Maine, to partake in the snowball fight after reading about it online.

"Pretty sweet," is how Sunderlin characterized the snowball fight. "I got whitewashed."

Devin Murphy of Portsmouth and his girlfriend Eva Malone hatched the idea to have the snowball fight and promoted it on Facebook.

"I had no idea it would blow up so big," said Murphy, 27, who had the day off from his job at Best Buy.

His Facebook page said, "We haven't had an opportunity like this since 'Snowicane' Nemo in 2013 and we should take advantage of it."

"As this event starts to gather steam, I want to ask all of you out there who plan on attending to bring as many props as you want," he promoted. "I'm talkin' flags, masks, homemade snowball launchers, the works... let's try and make this as fun and wild as possible."

Malone was inside the RiRa Irish pub drinking a Guinness, Murphy said.

The snowballers ignored warnings from the city's Public Works Director Peter Rice, who urged people on Tuesday morning to find an alternative spot, away from traffic.

"We appreciate the spirit if the event, but it's very dangerous to be on the streets," he said. "Somebody's going to get hurt."

Rice said poor visibility during the storm increased the risk of someone being struck by a vehicle.

"I get it," he said. "It's a lot of fun in the middle of a storm. But they should go someplace that's open. We're concerned about people's safety."

As the snowball fight overtook Pleasant Street, a public works vehicle parked at the entrance of the one-way street to prevent cars from entering. About 45 minutes after it started, the snow fight ended and most of the snow warriors filed into Ri Ra.