Warmer weather did not stop participants or spectators at Quincy Tip-Up

QUINCY — Crowds and participants did not mind Saturday temperatures that hit 40 degrees at the 61st Quincy Chain-of-Lakes Tip-Up Festival.

Winds gusting to 25 mph made the wind chill below freezing for the day-long event on the Marble Lake island southwest of Quincy for winter outdoor sports and community activities.

Just over a dozen people made the noontime jump into the 36-degree water of the lake for the Polar Bear Plunge.

After a pageant for high school girls for Tip-Up Queen and younger girls for Tip-Up Princess two weeks before the event, tradition said pageant contestants and winners must jump.  The annual event raises funds for scholarships for girls.

Queen Payton Gross and Princess Zoey Gross both made the jump.

Queen contestant Kennedy Battle jumped for the first time. “It was shockingly cold,” the 16-year-old Quincy High student said.

Princess contestant Kennedy Lah, 8, made the jump. “It was really cold," she said.

Her dad, Brian Lah, promised he would if she did, but he chickened out.

“I owe her. I didn’t think she would,” he said.

Prior story Warmer weather changes weekend plans for Quincy Tip-Up Festival

With no ice for fishing, dozens of fishermen used boats and the shoreline to catch trophy fish in six categories. Henry Snellenberger weighed and measured catches as they came in for the Tip-Up committee.

In the inaugural Squirrel Derby, 40 teams of two entered. The teams hunted area woods for the five squirrels limited. The team with the heaviest total and single squirrels won the top prize from the pooled $40 entry.

For the second year, chainsaw races drew contestants from all over the region.

George Cancille, from Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, came to compete. Dynamic Green Products sponsored the woodcutter.

Starting with hands on the beam, each person grabbed their chainsaw and cut down, then up, and back down. With equipment equal, “You also have to have the skill. You have to be fast, ” Cancille said. Good times were less than 20 seconds.

The cut-off wood slabs fed the fire pits scattered around the island.

Crafts and product vendors filled the Tip-Up event hall, where crowds enjoyed warmth, food, and drinks.

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Since 2021, there has been no ice on the lake for what started as an ice fishing contest.

Marble Lake Improvement Association president Dennis Smith believes weather will change again in the next few years, so ice fishing and snowmobile races can resume on the lake for Tip-Up.

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

This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Warmer weather did not reduce crowds or participants at Quincy Tip-Up