WILLOW CREEK — The annual Homan’s Pond Ice-Out contest will feature a record $2,000 prize pool when entries go on sale Monday at the Willow Creek General Store, Maeve O’Donnell announced Thursday.
O’Donnell, who has collected entry fees from her post behind the store’s front counter since taking over from her father in 1995, said ticket sales have climbed steadily as the tradition — dating to 1927, when mill workers idled by a late-winter logjam began placing wagers on the thaw — has drawn wider attention. Last year’s pool totaled $850.
“People are catching on that this is a genuine spring tradition,” O’Donnell said. “We have sold tickets as far away as Portland and Boston. One gentleman from Florida buys ten tickets every year for his whole family.”
The contest works on the honor system: participants guess the exact date and time the ice will clear from the pond’s center marker buoy. The entry fee is five dollars. The entire pool is awarded in cash to the closest guess at the annual Town Meeting Day potluck in March, along with the hand-painted wooden Ice-Out Cup that the winner keeps until the following year.
Last year’s ice went out on April 22 at 3:17 p.m. The 2016 winner will be announced in the Gazette as soon as the buoy drops.
O’Donnell keeps a running tally on a chalkboard visible from the street. The front window of the General Store has served as the official Ice-Out entry posting board since the tradition began.