Green Lake Snowmobile Club director Rita Dixon gave a huge thank-you shout-out to all of the people who came out to support the Green Lake community fireworks “Festival of Lights.”
She said it was an “amazing show.”
Dixon gave a special thank-you to Aaron Burwell and Sam Connors for setting up and lighting the fireworks display.
Some 150 people gathered at the Snowmobile Clubhouse to watch the fireworks.
Noting the event is totally funded by donations, Dixon said the club thanks GLARA, South Green Lake Volunteer Fire Department Auxiliary, B-Mak Construction, Bittersweet Management and Bob and Bev Malcolm for their substantial donations.
“Also, a special thank you to all the residents and guests who supported this event with their donations.”
Fundraising is ongoing in order to cover the increase in costs, she added.
New Year’s Eve dance
After the Festival of Lights was over, club members and their guests were treated to a musical presentation by Jack Keough and the Repeat Offenders.
As soon as Keough, Andy Leese, Doug Fenwick and Dean Kuyek started their first song, the floor was busy with people dancing, including a group of young ladies and their parents who danced the night away.
“We played until close to 1 a.m. and from the response we got, everyone had a great evening,” Keough said, adding they hope for more attendees next year.
Local ice safety recommended
Green Lake and area residents should be careful when they are going out on the lakes for winter fun.
According to the Red Cross, when people go out onto lake ice (such as Green Lake) they should avoid going on white, opaque or snowy ice.
Grey ice means there is a presence of water and it’s not safe to stand on.
Ice thickness is never consistent. It might be OK in one area, but it may not be safe in a nearby area.
Typically, the weakest is in the centre of a lake and along the edge of the water. Avoid streams and flowing water and ice that has recently frozen, thawed and frozen again.
The safer place to skate is on a still body of frozen water. Consistent air temperature below freezing makes safer ice.
Temperature swings above 0 C can compromise the integrity of ice by melting the existing ice or changing the water level, leaving unsafe spots in both the centre and shoreline of the lake.
If we fall through the ice, the Red Cross wants us to resist the urge to try to climb out where we fell in because the ice will be weak in that area.
We should call for help, try to relax, catch our breath and turn ourselves towards the shore so we are looking at where we went through the ice.
Then we should reach forward onto the broken ice without pushing down. We should kick our legs to try to get our body into a horizontal position and continue kicking our legs and crawl onto the ice.
When we’re back on the ice, we should crawl on our stomachs or roll away from the open area with our arms and legs spread out as far as possible to evenly distribute our body weight.
Don’t try to stand up because your legs and hands will sink into the weak ice.
We must look for the shore to make sure we’re crawling or rolling in the right direction.
Rescuing another person from the ice can be dangerous.
The Red Cross notes the safest way to perform a rescue is from the shore.
Always call for help and determine if we can quickly get help from trained professionals (police, firefighters, ambulance) or from bystanders.
We should check if we can reach the person with a long pole or tree branch from the shore.
If we can reach them, we should lie down and extend the pole to the person in the hole.
We should wear a personal flotation device (PFD) if we go out on the ice to assist someone who has fallen through the ice and carry a long pole, weighted rope or tree branch.
When we get near the break in the ice, we should lie down to distribute our weight and slowly crawl toward the hole. We should remain low and extend or throw our rescue device (pole, rope or branch) to the person.
People in the hole should kick their legs when to help us to help pull them out.
For more information, Google Red Cross ice safety.
Pie making
This year’s first pie-making session will be on Jan. 23 starting 9 a.m. upstairs at the South Green Lake Volunteer Fire Hall at 546 Green Lake South Rd.
Pie-making coordinator Marie Kuyek said they always need more helpers and everything the volunteers need to make the pies will be supplied.
