For all of you who have followed our ice out contest the last 12 years, here’s an update. Charlie knew it was going to be a long winter this year, so he decided it was time for a much needed vacation. He thought this tropical island was a better place to be than out on a cold and snowy frozen lake 🙂 He was smart to do this as the ice went out on May 2nd this year!
I was all set to give an update today for Charlie that he has fallen down on the job. Below are the photos taken yesterday, March 29th.
But with the warm temps and high winds today Charlie went swimming. Congratulations to Debby Taves who chose March 30th for the plunge.
This photo was taken at noon.
This was also taken at noon. You can see that Charlie has fallen through, but is still surrounded by ice.
By 5PM Charlie is completely free from the ice and is now resting on the shoreline.
Thank you to all 81 people who made a guess for Charlie’s plunge. Only 5 of you chose March and this was year for early ice out.
It rained all day yesterday. I tried to get a photo of Charlie, but there was too much fog. He’s still sitting firmly on the ice. The snow is all gone on the ice, so he’s sitting on a slick surface right now. We have a week of temps in the 40’s, but the nights are still going down to the teens, so Charlie will be sitting there for a while yet.
This is Charlies 11th year of sitting out on the lake. We’d love to have you be a part of our Ice Out Contest. Charlie almost had to take a year off this year. With all the snow we had in November the ice has been more like Swiss cheese than solid ice. But thanks to the bitter cold last week we were able to snow shoe out and set Charlie in place.
There are 2 ways you can send us your guess:
Send an email to [email protected]
Post it on our Facebook Ice Out post
In the 10 previous years ice has gone out 3 times in March, 4 times in April and 3 times in May. The earliest he has gone out is March 19th and the latest is May 6th.
All guesses are due by March 10th. No guess after March 10th will be recorded as we will be on vacation. The person whose date and time is the closest will be the winner and get their name on our Ice Out Contest plaque. If Charlie falls through the ice during the night the date will be credited to the next day. Sue and John will be at the Madison sport show February 28 – March 1, the Milwaukee Sport Shows March 4-8 and on vacation from March 11-29. Scott and Kelly are hanging out at the resort and will be keeping an eye on him for us.
We’ll begin posting updates as soon as we are back at the resort on March 30th. Have fun everyone! Get your guesses into us soon.
There is plenty of ice and SNOW still on the lake.
This is Charlies 10th Anniversary of sitting out on the lake. To celebrate we thought it appropriate to put him in costume for the initial photo. As our family gathered for Christmas this past year I asked them to brainstorm on ideas for Charlies 10th year on the ice. My niece Sierra came up with the winning idea. She said” Go with the 10th Wedding Anniversary gift of tin.” Thus Charlie the tin man came to be.
I’m waiting to make my way out into the cold.
So much for my warm and cozy chair
We’d love to have you be a part of our Ice Out Contest. There are 2 ways you can send us your guess:
Please do not forget to give both DATE and TIME that you think Charlie will fall through the ice. Only guess with date and time will be accepted.
In the 9 previous years ice has gone out 3 times in March, 3 times in April and 3 times in May.
All guesses are due by March 12th. The person whose date and time is the closest will be the winner and get their name on our Ice Out Contest plaque. If Charlie falls through the ice during the night the date will be credited to the next day. Sue and John will be at the Milwaukee Sport Shows March 5-11 and on vacation from March 15-24, but Scott will be keeping an eye on him for us.
We’ll begin posting updates when there are changes to the ice. Have fun everyone! Get your guesses into us soon.
There is plenty of ice and SNOW still on the lake.
Charlie goes swimming.
Congratulations to Nicole Kazmierczak for choosing the correct date that Charlie went swimming. He broke through the ice around 12:30 PM on Wednesday, May 2nd. Thank you to the 90+ people who entered the contest this year. It was a long wait. Here’s the past Ice Out dates:
2010 – March 25th
2011 – April 15th
2012 – March 19th
2013 – May 6th
2014 – May 5th
2015 – April 11th
2016 – March 30th
2017 – April 6th
There is still a good deal of ice that needs to melt before the fishing opener this weekend. Depending on the temps this week it will be close.
Charlie is on the ice!
It’s time for the 2018 Ice Out Contest.
Will you be this year’s winner?
We’d love to have you be a part of our Ice Out Contest. Send us an email at [email protected] with the DATE and TIME that you think Charlie will fall through the ice. All guesses are due by March 12th. The person whose date and time is the closest will be the winner and get their name on our Ice Out Contest plaque. If Charlie falls through the ice during the night the date will be credited to the next day. Sue and John will be at sport shows March 6-12, but Scott will be keeping an eye on him for us.
We’ll begin posting updates when there are changes to the ice. Have fun everyone! Get your guesses into us soon.
There plenty of ice still on the lake, approximately 28 inches!
The weather warmed up enough for Charlie to take the plunge. Charlie fell through the ice last night around 7PM. Too dark to take pictures, so we waited until this morning to capture the event. With the snow falling today and the freezing temperatures in store for the next week he took the plunge just in time before he’d stay stuck in the ice.
Congratulations to Chris and Tami Koening for winning this year’s Ice Out Contest. They chose March 30th at 2PM, which barely beat our runner-up, Guy Morter, who chose March 30th at noon.
Ice still surrounds Charlie, but he did take the plunge.
He’s being pulled under the ice for his trip to the shore.
Up he comes with a face full of ice.
With John’s help Charlie is pulled to shore. He’s grounded and John will have to get his waders on to help Charlie to shore.
As you can see he took the plunge just in time. The snow is falling.
We’d love to have you be a part of our Ice Out Contest. Send us an email at office@whitebirchvillage.com with the DATE and TIME that you think Charlie will fall through the ice. All guesses are due by March 10th. The person whose time is the closest will be the winner and get their name on our Ice Out Contest plaque. If Charlie falls through the ice during the night the date will be credited to the next day. Sue and John will be at sport shows March 1-13, but Scott will be keeping an eye on him for us.
Charlie had some fun going out on the ice this year. He decided that being an ice fisherman was the way to go. Do you think he’ll catch anything?
We’ll begin posting updates when there are changes to the ice. Have fun everyone! Get your guesses into us soon.
Charlie is ready for your guess.
Todd making sure Charlie has all the ice fishing gear he needs to be successful.
Charlie has all the gear he needs to catch some fish.
Chris shaking hands with Charlie. Chris was our winner last year.
Good friends Chris and Rox & Todd and Wendy helped put Charlie out on the ice this year.
