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| The famed Vermont Joe's Pond ice out contest ended at 8:41 p.m. Thursday when a cinder block fell through the melting ice on the Danville, pond which stopped the clock and heralded this year's winner |
Joe's Pond Ice Out is an annual tradition in which thousands of people buy tickets to place bets on the exact time ice breaks on the relatively high elevation pond in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. This year, a record 16,749 tickets were sold for $1 each.
Half the proceeds go to the person who came closest to correctly guessing the moment the ice went out, and the other half goes toward Joe's Pond water quality initiatives and an annual Fourth of July bash at the pond.
To determine ice out, a cider block is attached to a pallet that's placed on Joe's Pond ice in the winter. pallet and cinder block are tethered to a clock on the shore. When the ice melts enough, the pallet and cinder block fall through the ice, disconnecting the tether to the clock.
That makes the clock stop, which determines the exact moment ice out hits. This event has been going on since 1988.
Ice out has happened as late as May 6, 1992 and as early as April 5, in the extraordinarily warm early spring of 2010.
This year's ice out was earlier than long term average, following a trend that has been noticeable in the 38 years since the contest started. Perhaps climate change is affecting the Joe's Pond ice out contest.
In the first 20 years of the contest, ice out came on or after May 1 on seven occasions. In the past 18 years through Thursday, a May ice out happened only once, on May 4, 2018.
This is the sixth year in a row that Joe's Pond Ice Out occurred before April 20. Such a string of early ice-outs had not happened before. There had never been as many as two consecutive pre-April 20 ice outs until this current stretch.
As of this writing, the name of the 2025 Joe's Pond ice out winner hadn't been announced yet. That winner will receive a $7,835 check. If there's a tie, the winners will divide the proceeds.
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