Mother Nature was about to call an end to a Saskatchewan fundraiser but then it went into overtime.
This was the first “When Will it Sink” fundraiser for the Watrous Kinsmen club.
On Feb. 20, a Ford Mustang was placed on a slough along Highway 2 around eight km west of Watrous. The winner depended on who guessed the closest to when two tires broke through the ice and sank to a certain point.
In a turn of events on March 28, club member Stacey said the almost sunk car rose and sat back up on top of an island of ice.
“It was about probably three inches, four inches away from being completed … and we’re watching it, watching it because like ‘oh that’s going to be done’ and then the guy who’s got the camera on his land, checked the camera and he said, ‘Oh, I got an issue. The car’s floating’” he said.
“We figured the ice that would have been frozen to the ground, the runoff water would have gone underneath of it and got in between the ground and the ice and popped it loose and it floated right to the top like it was just parked out there (again).”
It ended on April 4 around 6:30 p.m.
According to meteorologist Peter Quinlan, it was 16 C at 6:30 p.m. in Watrous, which is around the time that the winner, Megan Willms-Woiden, was crowned.
“She was very excited. She was very, very humble and very happy to win. And she’s from the area, too. So that was nice,” Stacey said.
“We got $2,500 in gift cards to local businesses in Watrous and the surrounding area (for the winner).”
Overall, Stacey said the fundraiser was a hit and something potentially worth doing again.
“It went really well. We didn’t think it was going to be like this kind of a tossup in the air … We’re quite impressed, actually, how well it went and definitely opens the door for the future,” he said.
“I mean, some of our other events, it’s a lot more manpower and this wasn’t too bad. Like it was all over the phone and contacting people … we’ve had this Canadian rodeo come through Watrous and that’s all 20 members working hard for three days in a row at 16 hours a day, running an event. And this kind of nice.”
The club raised around $7,660 with ticket sales with all proceeds going to its endeavours to give back to the Watrous community.
As for the automobile, it was removed from the slough and already has a new home.
“We actually had somebody drive by one day, they saw the car, they made an offer to buy it. So we actually ended up selling the car and putting that money towards a donation as well,” Stacey said with a laugh.
“I had people call in. I actually got a phone call from somebody in Kitchener, Ont., looking to purchase a ticket and unfortunately, we couldn’t because of our SLGA licence, it was only in-province.”
Watrous is roughly 95 km southeast of Saskatoon.