WILLOW CREEK — The second annual Willow Creek Ice-Out, held yesterday at Homan’s Pond, drew seventy-five entrants — more than three times the field of the inaugural competition — and introduced the first formal rules for what appears to be establishing itself as an annual tradition in this mill town.

Elias Homan, who owns the land containing the pond and who granted verbal permission for last year’s gathering, has formally consented to the competition’s use of his property. In return, the organizers have agreed to a set of conditions: no liquor on the pond bank, no disputes settled by fisticuffs, and a five-dollar donation to the town library fund from the prize pool.

“It is a small price to pay for the use of a good pond,” Homan told the Gazette. “And the library has needed new books since the Carnegie grant ran out.”

The rules, printed on slips of paper and distributed at the General Store and the mill gate, are straightforward. Entrants pay one dollar and submit a prediction for the date and exact minute the ice will clear from the observation buoy. The prediction closest to the actual time wins the pool. In the event of a tie, the prize is divided equally.

This year’s winner was Silas Dumont, a sawyer at the mill, who predicted March 12 at 2:30 PM. The ice cleared at 2:18 PM — a margin of twelve minutes. Dumont’s prize: seventy-three dollars, after the library donation.

“I have been watching the ice on this pond since before there was a competition,” Dumont said. “I knew it would go early this year. The winter was mild, and the spring runoff started in February.”

The second annual competition drew entrants not only from Willow Creek but also from the neighboring communities of Island Falls, Pottersville, and even one entry from Houlton, submitted by mail. The Gazette notes with mild surprise that the competition’s fame has spread beyond the town line in just one year.

“I came down from Houlton special,” said Walter P. Hamilton, a hardware merchant who made the twelve-mile drive. “I heard about it from a salesman who passes through Willow Creek. It sounded like a fine way to spend a Saturday afternoon, and I was right.”

The competition is expected to become an annual fixture. The organizers have already set the date for next year’s competition — the first Saturday in March — and have reserved a table at the General Store for entry submissions.

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