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After a long-term hiatus, the Messer Pond Protective Association is trying
to get a winter carnival up and running like it was in the early 1900s.
Saturday's first attempt was like a neighborhood block party on the pond,
but everyone seemed to be having a good time.
It was a bit windy, but the sun was shining as 20 to 30 people, mostly
residents around Messer Pond, headed out in the middle of the pond for a
test run of what they hope to bring back as an annual event.
The Plan was to kick the day off with a ski joring demonstration by the
North East Ski Joring Association, where skiers are pulled by horses over
flat surfaces as well as jumps, but several inches of slush near the shore
where the horses were to be led onto the pond prohibited that from
happening.
Only two residents were down by the public access off Bog Road where this
was taking place, so they got a mini demonstration on the road.
Also foiling the plans a little bit was the dumping of snow Wednesday night,
making it difficult to conduct the planned
Nordic ski, snowshoe and sled races.
A
sled race did ensue and Finn Brown (grandson of Betty and Les Brown) pulled
by Dax the dog (Kaufman) won first place. |
Beth Greenawalt said she thought it went pretty well despite the
disorganized start to the day. At 2 p.m., several hands were still
shoveling a skating area off and residents ere returning home to gather
rolling pins for the rolling pin toss later won by Geoffrey Rice (grandson
of the Fred and Carolyn Kaufman) who tossed his pin 73.5 feet.
The purpose was to hold a carnival akin to the ones of years passed, but
several agreed that next year's carnival needs some more advanced planning
and preparation.
"I think it has potential," Greenawalt said. "It's a great idea, it
just needs some more planning."
Greenawalt also thought some additional activities would help as well.
If they cleaned the ice off in advance, they could have a hockey game set up
and ready when people ventured out to the lake. One suggestion was
also to bring it in closer to the edge of the pond, maybe into the cove
where
people would be more protected from the wind.
The carnival of years past, the last believed to have been held during the
1930s, held events that included ski joring, harness horse and toboggan
races, ice skating, rolling pin throws and more.
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This first revival of the carnival was meant to gauge interest and see if it
would be feasible to make a bigger production
of it next year.
An old movie of the carnivals of yore, shown at the historical society,
spurred the idea to revive it and a desire from the MPPA to have more winter
activities to begin to balance out the number of summer activities pushed it
along.
MPPA President Bob Brown said about half of the 50 houses around the pond
have full-time residents, making the summer a more popular time to host
activities.
Betty Brown, no relation to Bob, said next year they hope to get the
historical society more involved and really get this carnival going again.
Despite the hard work of shoveling the snow off a small area to skate, the
children were having a blast and parents were full of smiles.
Dogs raced around through the snow, ice fishing holes were cut and lines
strung by Harrison Roberts for an ice fishing contest and Scott Brown
struggled with the wind to keep a kite airborne. All and all it was a
pretty good afternoon.
"Everyone seems to be having a pretty good time," Greenawalt said. |
