OK, it's REALLY spring here

THE ICE OUT FOR SPRING. WINTER 2007 IS OVER

THIS year on 05/01/07 at 4:45PM the ice went out of Joe's Pond!

THE ICE-OUT GAME AND HOW IT GREW

The Joe's Pond Ice-Out Contest came about as a result of cabin fever, or maybe it was boredom. In the mid 1980's, Jules Chatot, a Joe's Pond summer resident for many years, liked to visit camp in the winter. He and a host of family and friends would gather to feast, snowmobile, play cards-it was like "deer camp", only in the dead of winter or in March with deep snow and howling winds. Conversations at camp or in town were first the weather, then "when do you think the ice will go out?" Jules began taking bets. He kept track of the wagers in a little notebook in his pocket.

This was the kind of thing everyone had an opinion on, and the "contest" began to grow. Jules was president of the Joe's Pond Association and in 1987, and he and his friends decided to turn the rapidly expanding friendly game into a real contest, one that would benefit the Association. They knew they needed some foolproof way to determine the actual time the ice was out, so they designed a sophisticated control system to keep the game honest! They placed an electric clock on Homer and Elsie Fitts' deck, tethered it to a cinder block placed 50 feet or more out on the ice in front of the camp, and there it was-the perfect solution to arguments about when the ice was actually out of all the nooks and crannies and coves. When the block went down, the clock stopped, and that was the "official" ice-out time. Whoever came closest guessing date and time, won the contest.

About 1500 tickets were sold in 1990; about 6,000 tickets were sold in 2003 to people all over the United States, and a few go overseas! Don Walker coordinated the contest for 15 years until 2003 when Dave Parker came on board to help. Don is still very active in organizing the contest, but now he is free to concentrate more on promotion and PR. After expenses, proceeds are split between the Joe's Pond Association and the contest winner. The Ice-Out Contest is the biggest fundraiser the Association has.