Jack LaGue, Meadow Lane at Joe's Pond left this comment after reading about the Ice-Out Contest winner a few entries back:

A friend asked me what happens to the blocks and whether there were 18 or more blocks at the bottom of the pond in front of Homer's. I said I didn't know for sure but I was pretty sure that there was some way they were retrieved. But out of curiosity, what does happen to the blocks?

Well, Jack we do our darndest to remove the blocks and the pallet each year, and we try to do it before the boaters get out there because they could get tangled in the rope that secures the rigging to Homer's deck. It takes two or more strong men with a boat to haul everything into shallow water where they can "land" it all, take it apart, dry everything out and store it for another year. According to Don Walker, there may be "a few" blocks on the bottom, but that would have been from some of the earlier years, I believe. As far as I know, most years things have held together so everything put out on the ice is retrieved. Perhaps the technology (knot tying?) has improved! I'm sure if there are any blocks resting on the bottom they would only have been left there after every effort was made to fish them out.

Thanks for getting in touch by leaving a message in the "coments" on that particular blog. I always enjoy hearing from readers - it's nice to know you're out there! See you soon at Joe's Pond, Jack.