Vermont town contest offers cash prize for ice predictions

Feb. 5 (UPI) -- A Vermont city is offering a cash prize in a contest to guess when a wooden facsimile of a bottle of vanilla extract will plunge into a frozen lake.

The City of Newport Parks and Recreation Department said the theme of this year's Lake Memphremagog Ice Out contest is "Vanilla Ice," hence the wooden sculpture on the frozen lake being modeled after a bottle of pure vanilla extract.

The contest calls on entrants to buy a $3 ticket -- or $5 for two tickets and $10 for five tickets -- that bear a date and time. If the sculpture falls through the ice on the date and time listed on the ticket, the winner will receive half of the proceeds from ticket sales, estimated to be about $500.

The other half of the money will go toward parks department projects, officials said.