(Arnolds Park)– A car that had been parked on Smith’s Bay of West Lake Okoboji in a contest by the Spirit Lake Sunrise Kiwanis Club went through the ice late Saturday night.
A hole developed right around the car itself. It went down in about 10 feet of water and landed on its top. Divers with the Arnolds Park/Okoboji Underwater Search and Rescue Crew uprighted the car…which had been stripped of its engine and transmission. Cables were hooked onto it, and the car was winched to shore at the Arnolds Park Public Beach (see photo).
Joe Estes of the Sunrise Kiwanis said they would be checking a clock in the car that stopped shortly after it got wet. It had stopped at 9:43 P.M. Standard time Saturday. Estes says the car could have been in the water for up to 10 minutes before the clock stopped.
Estes says they’re still checking tickets to see who the winner is. The person who guessed closest to when the car actually went through wins 500 dollars.
Ice that surrounded the car in Smith’s Bay is still about six inches thick.
The rest of West Okoboji, and all of East Okoboji, is ice-free.
See more pictures of the recovery here.
