TOBYHANNA, Pa. — The lack of ice and warmer temperatures expected later this week have forced organizers to make the tough decision to cancel the annual Tobyhanna Ice Harvest.
During winter, Bill Leonard is used to checking the ice at Tobyhanna Millpond #1.
It's part of his legacy. His father started the Tobyhanna Ice Harvest in 1993 in Coolbaugh Township, using the tools he'd collected over the years.
"Unfortunately, my dad passed away before the first ice harvest. But my brother, sister, and I, friends and neighbors, had the first one in '94, and then we said, 'Well, we got the stuff, let's do it again next year.' And here we are 32 years later," Leonard said.
But once again, a lack of ice and warmer temperatures are keeping the ice harvest from happening this year.
"In the middle of January, it froze one inch per night. We had up to two to three inches for a while. Then we got the snow on top of it. Now, the snow insulates the ice. It's amazing it keeps it from freezing. Plus, with that heavy snow on top of the thin ice, the water came up on top, and it froze and sunk," said Leonard.
It's the second year in a row that the organizers will not be able to cut ice.
Last year, the pond didn't freeze over. This year, there's an insufficient amount of ice.
Leonard said five and a half inches isn't enough to harvest.
"We like it at least seven to eight inches. Ideally, 10 or 12 inches that work really well. This saw behind me here weighs quite a bit. You don't take that out on the ice until we get about 10 inches of ice," Leonard said.
Despite being unable to get out on the pond and harvest ice this year, Leonard still says people can come out and learn about the tools and the history of ice harvesting in the Poconos.
"19 lakes in Monroe County were used for commercial ice industry. It was a big industry in the early 1900s, employed hundreds of thousands of men, a big industry. It peaked out around the 1920s, and then the invention of the electric refrigerator kind of was the beginning of the end for the natural ice industry," said Leonard.
Leonard says he'll continue to share the history of ice harvesting in the county for the community and for his dad, who never could.
To learn about the once-important ice industry in the Poconos, visit the pond at 2071 Lakeside Drive in Tobyhanna on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The Coolbaugh Township Historical Association (co-sponsor of the ice harvest) Historic Wills Mansion Museum will be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday.
You can stop by to see ice harvesting tools and memorabilia, tour the displays of our local history, and see videos from previous ice harvests.
The Wills Mansion Museum is on Route 611 at the Coolbaugh Township Municipal Complex.
The local VFW Post 509 on Goodwin Street in Tobyhanna will serve breakfast from 7:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Saturday.