The Ice Will Become A Bustling City For Brainerd’s Extravaganza

The 36th annual Brainerd Ice Fishing Extravaganza will take place on Gull Lake on Hole in the Day Bay on Saturday January 31 north of Brainerd.  The Chairperson for the event, Sheena Ziegler joined me on WJON.  She says they have never canceled the event, but it has been postponed twice and went virtual twice.  The two times they went virtual was due to Covid once and ice conditions, once.

Number of Participants Expected

Ziegler is excited about the typical Minnesota winter we are having making this year's event easy to plan for.  The event will feature approximately 10,000 participants with 20,000 holes drilled.  Ziegler says they have 25 members who put countless hours into preparing for the event and 300 volunteers the day of.

Preparation

Ziegler described the Extravaganza as "organized chaos that is magical in so many ways".  She says they are the largest city in Crow Wing County for one day.  It takes 3 days to set up their city on ice.  The fishing goes from noon-3pm on January 31 but the event opens in the morning with vendors and other attractions.

Prizes

Ziegler says they have 150 prizes to giveaway this year that are $200 in value or more with a new truck as the grand prize.  She says they have about $250,000 in prizes.  Each participate who catches a fish is eligible to win a prize along with those who purchase a raffle ticket.  The fish are ranked by weight but the value of the prize associated with each place is spaced out where the 17th place finisher could receive the higher dollar value prize than the 10th place finisher, for instance.  The top 5 prizes are:

1. Ford or GMC Truck from Mills Auto Group
2. Polaris 450 from Northland Sports Center
3. $1,000 Extravaganza Cash
4. $1,200 2027 Grand View Extravaganza Package
5. StrikeMaster Maven

Worldwide Interest

People come from all over the world to participant in the event.  Ziegler says she met someone who came from Turkey to participate.  Tickets can be purchased in advance at icefishing.org or buy your tickets at the gate the day of the event.

If you'd like to listen to my conversation with Sheena Ziegler, click below.