Colorado Ice Melt Contest May Be Best Fundraiser Ever

This Colorado ice melt contest may be the best fundraiser in the history of fundraisers.

The Rotary Club of Summit County is putting on the 32nd annual Dillon Ice Melt contest to raise funds for their local projects and programs.

The concept is pretty simple and straightforward. Your job is to guess the day and the time when the ice on Lake Dillon will melt and a clock setting on the ice falls through.

The winning guess wins $4,000, while second place receives $2,000, and the third closest guess gets $1,000. They even help you out by showing you the exact day and time the ice has melted every year over the last 30 years. For $5 you get one guess, $20 gets you five guesses, and $100 will buy you 30.

We have some cool fundraisers in the Grand Valley like the Rotary Red Ball Event at Powderhorn and the rubber ducky races that raise a lot of money for charity. But, there may be other options as well.

People seem to love guessing games, like how many jelly beans or M&M's are in the jar. So, here are some other "guessing game" ideas that could possibly be successful fundraisers.

• Have people guess the day of the Grand Vally's first freeze of the year, and exactly what the low temperature will be.
• Have people guess the exact day and time of Grand Junction's first 100-degree day of the year.
• Guess the day of Grand Junction's first snowfall of two inches or more.
• We could do our own ice melt contest at Corn Lake -- or on the pond at Lincoln Park Golf Course.

The possibilities are pretty much limitless, but I think the folk in Dillon have a great thing going and someone in the Grand Valley should pick up on their idea. I love the idea of the ice melt contest and we will have plenty of ice come winter.