Locals fight for bragging rights at rock skipping contest

Kevin Avison and Mike Lozer both came up with an idea that would help fuel the competitive fire and end several debates.

Avison, the owner of The Cove Deli & Pizza, came up with an idea in conjunction with his friend Mike Lozer to help raise funds and awareness of the initiatives they are trying to achieve to make the Mission Valley Ice Arena come to fruition.

The two of them decided to host a rock skipping contest Saturday at Riverside Park that would end up attracting almost 50 competitors.

“Well, I consider myself the rock skipping champion in the state of Montana,” Avison jokingly stated. “When I am out there all alone, I consider myself a pretty darn good rock skipper and I wanted to compare myself to others. I own this beautiful Cove near the lake and within walking distance. We thought to ourselves ‘why not?’”

Avison said he felt the timing to have the event was “perfect.”

“I grew up in far eastern Montana, my grandparents have a place on Finley Point, and every summer for two or three weeks on the lake I’ve been throwing round rocks and flat rocks since I was three years old,” Avison said. “It was perfect timing the week after Memorial Day and the graduation. People were in town and they were having fun laughing and bringing the community together. That is the reason I did this because everyone had a smile on their face and I wanted to laugh with people.”

The third annual rock skipping contest also served another purpose: to raise money and awareness for the Mission Valley Ice Rink that they are developing.

“The rock skipping contest was the brain child of Kevin and Mike Lozar,” Hilary Lozar, who is one of the key figures in trying to build the funds to make the Mission Valley Ice Rink come to fruition, said. “Several communities around the nation were doing rock skipping contests and we thought we would be the first rock skipping contest in the state of Montana.”

Thus far, the Mission Valley Ice Arena has gotten one private donation of $1 million dollars from an anonymous donor in order to make their vision come to fruition.

“The $1 million dollars is contingent upon us raising as much as we need to the point of $1 million and so our goal is to raise 2.4 million dollars,” Hilary Lozar said. “Now, (because of the private donation) all we have to do is raise $1.4 million and they will finish with the last million dollars (in order to make this project happen).”

The push to bring a skating rink to Polson began in late 2013 when they developed by-laws, a board member system, and officially got the designation of becoming a non-profit in 2014. Now they are seeking donations.

Currently, they bought a Zamboni, an Olympia 3000, and are hoping that by 2018 or 2019 that they are ready to make the vision a reality.

“I would like to be at the point to call the fundraising over by the end of 2018 and that is a reasonable amount of time to accumulate $1.5 million dollars, Hilary Lozar said. “We are still actively searching and after we reach our funding goals, then construction would probably take six to eight months. It should be ready to go by the 2019-2020 season.”

Though the non-profit doesn’t normally do a lot of events, they have a contest to buy a raffle ticket to win a rifle that they have moved to various locations and businesses throughout the community of Polson.

“We aren’t doing a lot of big events in attempt to fundraise,” Lozar said. “We are approaching individual businesses (looking for donations) and see how it goes for us.”

The following are the winners of the rock skipping contests:

12 and under Girls champion: Ellie Moore

12 and under Boys champion: Lex Avison

Women’s division champion: Jaelin Vanderburg

Men’s division champion: Tom Adrignola