The 2016 Gull Lake Frozen Fore Winter Weekend event raised $45,000, which will be donated back to local charities Confidence Learning Center and Kids Against Hunger-Brainerd Lakes Area.
"Working with this group throughout the year for this fun event is amazing," Sarah Smith, Special Events Coordinator for Confidence Learning Center, in a news release. "The coming together to give back to the community is simply awesome and we are excited to be a part of it."
The Gull Lake Frozen Fore, now in its 11th year, kicked off with the Gull Lake Frozen Flop, where $22,000 of the total donations were raised by the participants who were willing to "flop" into the frigid waters of Gull Lake by getting donations from supporters. Saturday was the Frozen Fore snowmobile and golf portion of the event. With 65 degree temperatures and little to no snow, participants jumped on shuttle busses to go around Gull Lake to all the participating locations. Sunday wrapped up the weekend up with Foodfest, where local chefs and restaurants compete for three different titles. This year's winners were Grand View Lodge for the Judge's Choice Award and Best Hotdish Award while Jake's City Grille took home the People's Choice Award.
"This weekend is about bringing people to our community, into our businesses and raising money for great local charities," said Lee Johnson, owner of Zorbaz on Gull, in a news release. "It's incredible to see how this event continues to grow. This year alone we saw a 30 percent growth in participants and raised almost double what we did last year for local charities. This is why we do it!"
Gull Lake businesses including Zorbaz Gull Lake, Cowboy's, Bar Harbor, Grand View Lodge, Ernie's, Jakes, The Legacy of Cragun's and Sherwood Forest work together each year to put on the Gull Lake Frozen Fore Winter Weekend on the last weekend of February.
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Gull Lake Promotions group thanked all the area businesses for the support and all the participants. Gull Lake Promotions also put on other events throughout the year including Spring Around Gull Lake (April 30, 2016), Oktoberfest (Oct. 8, 2016) and The Ugly Sweater Pub Crawl (Dec. 10, 2016). The 2017 date for Gull Lake Frozen Fore Feb. 24-26.
