The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
In the summer of 2003, Snow Lake's Recreation Director, Stephanie Foy, thought that she would seize upon a popular idea from a trendy new television series, when she mimicked "Junkyard Wars" with her version, the Snow Lake Junkyard War. It proved to be an intriguing and skill-testing event for a number of citizens, so she decided to make it a yearly event. With the success of the inaugural event behind her, Foy drew upon the experience and with it kicked off Snow Lake's second annual Junkyard War at 10:00 a.m. on July 31 at the community's nuisance grounds. Three teams of three to four participants donned their rain gear and braved the elements in putting together this year's project. Despite frequent downpours, each group finished their assignment well within the prescribed time period. Foy stated that this year's project was a mobile crane. "The teams were to build a crane that could lift and move various pieces of scrap from one point to another," she said. "These scrap objects were of all shapes and sizes and had to be moved and placed in the same order they were picked up." The team to move all pieces within a 20-minute time limit was to be crowned the winner. "The competition was fierce and all teams had a great showing," said the Rec. Director. "The Cranes were quite different, but each one worked very well, and the pieces of scrap varied from a barrel, to pieces of culvert and even a bedspring. They all certainly tested the agility of each crane." The winning team, consisting of Mike Botten Sr., Mike Botten Jr., Peter Foy and Neal Foy who dubbed themselves "Overbuilding". They finished the task with a time of 4:50 minutes. The second place team finished with a time of 8:19 minutes. They called themselves "Overhaulin" and were made up of Hank Dick, Kalen Stephen and Jacques Cadorette. Third place went to the team of Tony Butt, Sariviea Rogers, Greg Wiwcharuk, and Toni Butt. They finished with a time of 8:52 minutes and were appropriately named "The Scrappers". Foy stated that she was impressed with the ingenuity of the participants as well as with all those who came out to cheer for them.
