Meltdown Pool

A lot of boaters are anxious for the ice on Vermont's lakes to melt-- and so are gamblers. More than 11,000 gamblers to be precise. Joe's Pond in West Danville is home to an international competition that's more than 20 years strong. People enter a contest to guess the exact day and time a cinder block on the ice will fall through. Each guess costs $1. The winner gets half the jackpot. The rest goes to the Joe's Pond Association. "It's not so much the money. Money's nice, but it's just kind of neat to see how close we can get. Last year I was off 2 hours and 20 minutes. I wanted to come up and kick it in," said Brenda Sambel of Northfield.

The earliest the ice has gone out on Joe's Pond is April 16. The latest is May 6. It looks as if the ice on the pond this year will last at least another week.

Keagan Harsha - WCAX News
West Danville, Vermont - April 17, 2009