It was warm and lively in the tarped-in pavilion on Saturday, February 7, as the Loyal Sportsman's Club held its annual Ice Fishing Contest on Mead Lake south of Thorp. Taking place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., the contest saw anglers take to Mead Lake before gathering in the club house to hear fishing contest winners, along with gun raffle, bucket raffle, meat raffle, and 50/50 raffle winners.
Fishing contest winners were as follows:

Crappie
1. Nick Moeller - 14 inches
2. Bentley Gema - 13½ inches

Bluegill
1. Archer Grant - 9¼ inches
2. Matthew Vetterkind - 9 inches

Perch
1. Marshall Zabel - 10¼ inches
2. Kordell Kaduce - 10 inches

Bullhead
1. Brandon Williams - 12¾ inches
2. Marshall Zabel - 11½ inches

Bass
1. Carly Feit - 21 inches
2. Brad Look - 18½ inches
There were no walleye.

Gun raffle items this year include a 4/0 shotgun, .22 MAG, .22 ARC, and 5.56 NATO. Gun raffle winners were Jody Schulteis, Pat Nowak, Nathan Stini, and Robbie Wehe.
Bucket and kids raffle winners were announced on boards in the tarped-in pavilion (bucket raffle by numbers), while meat raffle winners saw attendees distributed paddles before the spin of a wheel decided contest winners who picked their prizes from the table spread with meat.
Winning 50/50 raffle ticket number worth $525 was 585890.
Donors to the bucket raffle included the following: Ray and Bonnie Weyer, Joe and Mary Weyer, Jenny Polhemus, Courtesy Ford, Mark and Lori Gregorich, Tim and Mary Buss, Feltz Lumber, Vinnie and Dana Putrus, Freedom Warehouse, Riesterer & Schnell, Don Fields, Lynn Dairy, S & S Distributing, Gardner Cheese, Ray's Meats, Smith Bros, Mullins Cheese, RKI, Mike's Tire, Loyal Tire, and Brian Schreiner.
Over for the present, the Mead Lake Ice Fishing Contest put on by the Loyal Sportsman's Club returns next year.