Warmer weather changes weekend plans for Quincy Tip-Up Festival

Don Reid, Coldwater Daily Reporter
·2 min read

QUINCY — The Quincy Chain-of-Lakes Tip-Up Festival is changing like the weather for its 61st year this Saturday on Tip-Up Island.

While the event started as an ice fishing contest with snowmobile races on the ice of Mable Lake, it shifted to shore and boat fishing with a chainsaw race competition in 2023 due to the lack of ice.

Quincy firefighters in cold water rescue suits stood by last year for jumpers in the Tip-Up Polar Bear Plunge in a frigid Marble Lake.
Quincy firefighters in cold water rescue suits stood by last year for jumpers in the Tip-Up Polar Bear Plunge in a frigid Marble Lake.

Honorary Tip-Up Mayor Mikey Connin said, "I've been going for a long time. It's something fun for the community. It's not quite as big as it used to be, but I blame a lot of that on the weather."

Crafts will be for sale, and food will be served at the lodge on the island. There will also be kids' games and bonfires on the shore for those who need to warm up.

Here's what you can look forward to during this year's event:

Polar Bear Plunge

The water in Marble Lake for the noontime famed 41st Polar Bear Plunge, added 20 years after Tip-Up started, will still be cold for those jumping from the dock rather than through a hole cut in the ice like in previous years.

Registration begins at 11 a.m., with the first 25 signing up and receiving a "Polar Bear Plunge" t-shirt.

Something new for hunters

"This is the first year of our new Squirrel Derby," Connin said.

Two-person teams will hunt Fox and Grey squirrels to the five-squirrel legal daily limit from dawn until the 3 p.m. Saturday deadline. "We'll weigh them up, and the winner takes the prizes," Connin said.

"The weather doesn't like to cooperate. So, we're trying to bring some more land options," Connin added.

Chainsaw racers competed for the first time in the 2023 Tip-Up.
Chainsaw racers competed for the first time in the 2023 Tip-Up.

Chainsaw races

From 1 until 2:30 p.m., contestants will use crosscuts and chainsaws to cut through logs and wood beams in a timed competition.

Fishing for cash

The Saturday fishing tournament awards cash prizes from $75 to $20 for the largest pike, crappie, blue gill, perch, redear, and walleye pulled from the lake by 4 p.m.

The nonprofit Tip-Up association operates the island south of the village on the site of a former marl mine concrete plant.

The group built a large events hall for community use.

Tuesday there was little ice on Marble Lake at Tip-Up Island. Fifty-degree temperatures will melt all the ice by the weekend.
Tuesday there was little ice on Marble Lake at Tip-Up Island. Fifty-degree temperatures will melt all the ice by the weekend.

The committee hosts a bring your bottle Fisherman's Ball from 8 p.m. to midnight Friday for adults.

Raffles are held with donated prizes and cash up to $500 cash on both days.

The organization raises scholarship money for girls in the community.

"(Tip-Up) is lots of fun for everyone," Connin said.

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The island opens at 9 a.m., with the prize drawings ending the day at 7 p.m. in the event center lodge.

More information is available on Facebook at the Quincy Chain-of-Lakes Tip-Up Festival.

-- Contact Don Reid: dReid@Gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: No ice forces change in weekend Quincy Tip-Up Festival on Marble Lake