Courtesy photo The First Big Freeze Ice Fishing Derby was hosted at the Van Cleve Beach House in Gladstone on in February. To support local businesses while planning this event, organizers made it a priority for prizes to be purchased or donated from the Delta County area. Shown are Dave LaFave, Visit Escanaba Board; Matt Jensen, Delta County SAR; Stacey Niskanen, Delta County SAR; Nick Cox, Delta County SAR; Richard Chrisman, Visit Escanaba Board; Clinton Seawright, Delta County SAR; Jarred Drown, Visit Escanaba Board; Robert Micheau, Visit Escanaba CEO; Tom Sealander, Delta County SAR.

ESCANABA — The First Big Freeze Ice Fishing Derby was hosted at the Van Cleve Beach House in Gladstone on a blustery day in late February. Contestants braved winter conditions in a race to catch perch, walleye, and northern pike on Little Bay De Noc. The event was organized by Delta County’s Destination Marketing Organization, Visit Escanaba.

To support local businesses while planning this event, organizers made it a priority for prizes to be purchased or donated from the Delta County area. The 2022 Big Freeze event sponsors included: Blade’s Bait & Tackle, BayShore Resort Bait & Tackle, Bay View Bait & Tackle, Beavers Lures, Moonshine Lures, Mags Custom Rods, Upper Hand Brewery, Rapid River Knifeworks, and The Mantuary. Organizers are pleased to announce that this year’s prize pool consisted of 20 different prizes, including wild card & door prizes, with a total value of over $3,300.00! Visit Escanaba looks forward to hosting The Second Annual Big Freeze event next year and aims to involve even more local businesses.

The Big Freeze also acted as a fundraiser, in which $1,000 was donated to the Delta County Search & Rescue Team. Event sponsors felt that it was pivotal to include the Search and Rescue Team for this type of an event and to raise awareness, because the members of Search & Rescue do so much to protect and serve our community.

“This is not just a summer playground but a winter one too,” said Clint Seawright of Delta County Search and Rescue.

On the day of the event, Delta County Search & Rescue assisted with set-up/take-down and remained on site for the entirety of the event to ensure the safety of everyone out ice fishing. “This community is fortunate to have such an incredible, hard-working group like the Search and Rescue Team,” said Visit Escanaba Board of Directors member Richard Chrisman of the Hiawatha Motel. Visit Escanaba will continue working with Delta County Search and Rescue and many other local partners to host this extraordinary winter event.