The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Ice Out? How it’s determined It was almost half a century ago that I was given the job of recording the official date the ice melted and disappeared form Lake Scugog. Records for this eagerly awaited event have been published since 1872 so no doubt there have been numerous ‘record- ers’. In the past century - the chore was carried out by the likes of Port Perry Star publisher Sam Farmer, and members of his family until 1963, when the paper was sold to my father Per Hvidsten. All those who have participated are not known, but each spring, Port Perry Star employees like Clive Boyd, Archie Farmer, Bill Harrison and Per Hvidsten kept the records up-to-date. The process, as explained to me, was quite easy. Simply walk to the end of the pier at the end of Queen St., scan the hori- zon to the north and make the call. If the ice had completely disappeared from the surface of the lake looking north - then this was the date the ice left Lake Scugog. Of course, this over simplification of the process did cause problems at times - especially if a strong wind from the north moved an ice field back into the bay the following day. Other dilemmas would come from people living along other loca- tions around the lake, who claimed the ice left earlier or later. Prior to 1918, when the government pier was constructed, Port Perry’s lake- front in no way resembled the lakefront we have today. The shoreline - which to- day is home to Birdseye Centre pool, the Scugog Library, Palmer Park and baseball diamonds - was a heavily industrial cen- tre. In the late 1800s, when records started, the railway rolled through the centre of today’s park, lumber, grain, and manu- facturing industries lined the entire lake- front from north to south. So, just where those who recorded the dates the ice went out were standing when they declared, the lake free of ice is not known for certain. But this year will make the 143rd year this spring tradition has taken place. J. Peter Hvidsten Focus on Scugog Old Man Winter releases its grip on Lake Scugog Don’t you just love this time of the year, when winter has officially passed into history? Thankfully April’s warmer temperatures, accompanied by rain and wind, started to eat away at the thick coat of ice which had cov- ered the lake for the past four months. Old Man Winter finally released his grip this year on Saturday, April 11. Aside from a small field of crushed ice trapped in the bay, on Saturday, the lake glistened under a bright sun, marking the start of another summer of fun. This year’s date for the “ice out” records, was only eight days short of the date a year earlier. Welcome to summer in Scugog! ICE OUT DATES FOR THE PAST 25 YEARS ... April 13 2003... April 1 .. March 18 Record Dates: Earliest date the ice left Lake Scugog Latest date the ice left Lake Scugog March 15, 2012 April 29, 1965 FOCUS - MAY 2015 13