Lake Menomin ‘Klunker’ Update: Where Is It Now?
longtime Menomonie tradition halted thanks to Mother Nature
Last year, true to the car-on-ice-tradition of Menomonie and the spirit of the Menomonie Lions Club, a “klunker” car was placed out on Lake Menomin, symbolizing the turn from winter to spring within the community.
However, as community members may have noticed, this winter the long-running tradition came to a pause. There is no car on the ice. Without the sturdy support of the lake’s frozen surface, there was no klunker this year.
Jon Hove – a self-proclaimed lifelong member of the Lions Club and the group’s community service chair – shed some light on the situation. “Yes, we sold tickets but, Mother Nature did not provide the main ingredient – ice for the car. So, it was never safe to put it out from Jan. 1st to now,” Hove said.
Traditionally, people can win money by guessing when the car will fall into the water, something that has varied over the decades. Menomonie Lions Secretary Loni Hilmanowski recalls an earlier experience. “My first experience was in 2014. It was a klunker! We had a harsher winter, and the car didn’t go in until mid-April,” Hilmanowski said.
It‘s a shame because we use the money raised to help the game park. The ‘car on the ice’ is well known in the city. It’s very sad we could not put it out this year.
Loni hilmanowski
menomonie lions secretary
Both Hove and Hilmanowski expressed their disappointment in being unable to continue the tradition this year. Hove said it makes the winter more fun with a bit of betting on the outcome of the car.
Hilmanowski said, “It is a shame because we use the money raised to help the game park. The ‘car on the ice’ is well-known in the city. It’s very sad we could not put it out this year.”
Still, despite this unpredictable turn of events, the tradition should return next year. “(There are) no plans to quit the contest and spoil the fun,” Hove said. We will see the return of this community tradition when it is safe to do so.
The Menomonie Lions Club can be followed and supported online at MenomonieLions.org.
