Buy Ice Watch fundraiser tickets by Feb. 15

KENT — The Housatonic River isn’t completely frozen but large sections of it, in Kent at least, are thickly iced. Which means of course that conditions are much better this year than they were last year for the annual Ice Watch fundraiser for the Kent Volunteer Fire Department.Susie Rundall shared an update with The Lakeville Journal on plans for this year’s competition (tickets will be sold this year until Feb. 15).Rundall’s son, Bill Rundall, has been Ice Watch chairman for the past 10 years (the Ice Watch has been held here for more than four decades, she said).Each year, Rundall explained, the Ice Watch committee erects a tripod on the ice on the Houstaonic River. A cable is strung across the width of the river. A rope is attached to the tripod and, through a series of pulleys on the cable, travels to a small shed on the side of the river.An old, car-type clock is kept running inside the shed. When enough Housatonic River ice melts to permit the tripod to move approximately 100 feet south on the river, the rope pulls a lever that stops the clock.For $2, anyone can make a guess as to when the clock will stop. The winner is the guess closest to the actual date and time on the clock when it stops.The money collected from the sale of tickets is divided between the winner and the fire department. “Some years,” Susie Rundall said, “we are fortunate enough to have the winner donate his or her winnings right back to the fire department.”There are white boxes around town that are approximately 10 by 10 inches where Ice Watch guess tickets can be purchased. There are envelopes on top of the boxes that contain the guess slips. Fill out a guess slip and put it in the envelope along with $2 for each guess. The envelopes are left in the white boxes.“It is important that people fill in all the required information on their guess slips,” Rundall stressed. “Guesses without all information properly filled in will not be accepted.” The information required on the guess includes: the exact month, date and time the clock will stop including hour and minute; whether the guess is for “a.m.” or “p.m.;” and the guesser’s name, address and telephone number.The times selected must be between Feb. 16, 2013, and 11:59 p.m. on April 30, 2013.In the event there is not enough ice to set up the tripod, the proceeds are treated like a regular “50/50” with a winning ticket drawn.The deadline for purchasing guess tickets is midnight on Friday, Feb. 15. For further information, call 860-927-4119.