Why, yes, the ice has broken on the Housatonic River

KENT — With the massive amounts of rainfall and melting that caused the Housatonic River to flood fields and roads, it became obvious last week that the Kent Volunteer Fire Department’s annual Ice Watch contest was over. Each winter, the fire department sets up a system in which a clock connected to a tripod on the Housatonic River stops when the ice breaks. People pay $2 to make a guess as to when the ice will break. Whoever guesses the actual date and time wins half of the money that is collected. The other half goes to the fire department.The system is comprised of ropes and pulleys that connect a tripod (which sits on the ice on the river) and a clock (which rests safely in a small house on the riverbank). When the tripod moves 100 feet, the pulley system stops the clock. This year, the clock stopped at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, March 6 — the night of the heavy rain and an ice storm that caused the river to flood the following day. The ice had been so densely packed on the river near Kent that it broke up into blocks, many of which washed up on Route 7 (see photos, this page). The movement of the ice was so violent that the fire department’s entire cable, pulley and tripod system was lost in the rising Housatonic. The only piece of equipment that survived the flood was the clock. The winning guess, which was announced on March 8, was made by Beverly Brennan of Sharon, who works at the Kent School. Brennan will split her $1,290 earnings with the fire department.