Another unique competitive winter event will join the popular slide-and-collide sled box derby at the upcoming Lake George Regional Park Winter Carnival — a competition for the best ice fishing shack on the lake.
The winter carnival, now in its 23rd year, also features an annual ice fishing derby, snow sculpting demonstrations by the Wesserunsett Arts Council, skiing, snowshoeing, a chili cook-off over a wood fire and food.
Additional Images
Events will begin Saturday at 6 a.m. with fishing derby registration, park director Jeffrey McCabe said.
“Watch for the light in the shack,” McCabe said, indicating the opening of registration in the ice-shack headquarters by the boat launch on the Canaan side of the lake. “Come early, because parking goes fast.”
Participants in the ice fishing derby will have a chance to win a four-stroke Jiffy ice auger and other prizes, including locally crafted pack baskets, for a $5 entry fee. There will be a 50/50 cash drawing at noon, door prize drawings at 2 p.m., and derby prizes awarded at 3 p.m.
For the ice shack competition, “secret judges” will be patrolling the lake on Saturday, noting the shacks, their color and unique design, McCabe said.
“Shacks began to appear after we made the announcement that we were going to give out an award,” he said. “Registering for the derby qualifies you for the ice shack competition. The person or the group who has the best ice shack will win a $100 gift certificate to Hammond Lumber as well as a wonderful assortment of Cabot cheeses donated by some local dairy farmers.”
Criteria for winning the best ice shack competition include most creative, most unique design and the ice shack where people appear to be having the most fun, McCabe said.
McCabe said all the recent snow promises to make for good skiing and snowshoeing. Volunteers from Somerset Woods Trustees land trust group will take people on a walk at around 1 p.m.
“This is an interesting year for us. In my time at the park and looking back at some of the history of the winter carnival, having it in early February there’s not quite as much snow on the lake as there is right now,” he said. “There’s an amazing amount of snow to play on for kids. The snow’s going to be great for the sled box derby race. It’s going to be a beautiful day this weekend.”
McCabe said the annual sled box derby race — using only tricked-out and painted cardboard boxes — will draw dozens of area children to the Skowhegan side of the lake for the 10 a.m. event Saturday.
Judging starts at 10:30 a.m. Awards will be given for best crash, most creative, best looking and longest slide. Rules mandate that derby entries must be made of cardboard boxes with no skis or sleds. The idea is to be creative with decorations, McCabe said.
For the second year in a row, there will be demonstrations of disk golf with competition baskets on the Skowhegan side of the park.
The chili cook-off is planned for noon with judging around 1 p.m. The entry fee is $5. Chili must be in a container that can be warmed over a wood fire.
Food, including hot dogs, corn chowder and baked goods, will be on sale by area Boy Scouts starting mid-morning in the warming hut on the Skowhegan side of the lake
The Semper Fidelis women’s club will be toasting marshmallows and making s’mores at 9 a.m.
“Bring your sleds, bring your shovels. There’s going to be some fort building. We have great ice, we have great snow and things are just adding up for a great day,” McCabe said.
Established in 1992, Lake George Regional Park is owned by the state and managed for public use by the nonprofit Lake George Corp. The park is leased through an interlocal agreement with the towns of Skowhegan and Canaan on U.S. Route 2 about six miles east of downtown Skowhegan. The parks receives no state funding.
Doug Harlow — 612-2367
Twitter: @Doug_Harlow
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Comments are no longer available on this story