This is our seventh year holding a Clary Lake Ice-Out contest. I’m little late starting this year but then Spring is a little late getting here too, in deed, there is absolutely no sign of the ice even thinking about going out anytime soon. In fact, the above webcam picture is from yesterday morning. Sure looks like winter! This year’s prize for first place is the same as last year’s prize, a $25 Gift Certificate to The Jefferson Scoop. Yay Ice Cream! If you guess the correct ice-out date  or come closest without going past it, you’re the winner. When the Scoop actually opens for business we’ll pick up a the gift certificate and get it to you. I swiped the picture at left of a Maple Walnut cone the Scoop’s FB page. Mmmm…

In the event there are two (or more) people who guessed the same winning date, the person guessing first (based on the recorded timestamp) will be the winner and the other less-lucky (but still lucky!) person (or persons!) will win a laminated 8.5″ x 11″ Clary Lake Depth Map as a runner up prize (see below). FYI, the earliest the lake has been deemed completely free of ice was last year on March 8, 2024; the latest the ice has gone out was on April 24, 2001.  Visit our Ice In and Ice Out page to see all our historical data back to 2001. Reviewing historical ice-in and ice-out data is NOT CHEATING! We’ll be closing the contest to new guesses late on March 15th or sooner if it looks like ice out is actually imminent. Guess as often as you want, but remember: only your last guess counts!

Here are the contest entries we’ve received so far, in the order in which they came in (it may take a while for your guestimate to show up). Hint: you can sort the records by clicking on the column header. You’ll find the Entry Form at the bottom of this post. I’ll also put a link to this post in the list of Useful Links on the sidebar at right so you can find it easily. Hint: Use the little little calendar icon thingy on the form and select your date guess  by clicking on the calendar, this helps prevent botched dates 🙂

2026 Ice Out Contest Guestimates