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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Never mind Black Friday or Cyber Monday. We know Albuquerque’s holiday season isn’t really underway until the tumbleweed snowman goes up.

A crew from the Albuquerque Metropolitan Arroyo Flood Control Authority corrected that shortcoming Tuesday with a 12-foot giant, handcrafted from the finest tumbleweeds that the Albuquerque metro area has to offer. Perched on an embankment on Interstate 40 just east of the Big I, the snowman drew what sounded like honks of joy even before James Moya and his colleagues were finished erecting the holiday icon.

This year’s snowman was a challenge because of a lousy tumbleweed crop, according to Moya, the AMAFCA welder-artiste who led the construction effort. Moya also decided to rebuild the metal superstructure after a windstorm last year exposed a design weakness in the face of extraordinary winds.

An Albuquerque tradition since 1995, the snowman achieved international stardom this year, having been photographed for a National Geographic feature on tumbleweeds.

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