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I did it again.  I went and shot off my big mouth. Last week I said the Celebration of the Lakes was still planning on being on the ice next weekend. I was wrong. They had a meeting the same day the paper came out and decided it was just too risky to hold it on the ice this year.

Sooo, with that being said, I would like to invite you and your family out to Ki Chi Saga Park next weekend for the annual Celebration of the Lakes Festival. While the event will not be on the ice, it will still have plenty of fun events taking place.

Let's begin with the Pilot's Reception Chili Contest and Potluck. The event will take place on Friday, January 27 at 6 p.m. in the Lindstrom Community Center. Chili contest entrants must bring a crock pot of chili, a ladle and a 25 foot extension cord. There will be cash prizes given out for best tasting, most unique and best overall chili.

Did you notice that I wrote potluck after chili contest? That's because the public is invited to attend the event. You are asked to bring a side dish, a dessert, or beverages to share with everyone. Please come out and meet the pilots. It is a very casual, relaxed atmosphere that you will most definitely enjoy.

So what has changed with the celebration not taking place on the ice?

Well, there is an old time movie being shown at the Chisago Lake Lutheran Church in Center City on Friday night. There will be ice skating at Ki Chi Saga Park. The first balloon launch will take place Saturday at 7:45 a.m. in Ki Chi Saga Park. Be sure to bring your cameras. Some of the most spectacular photos ever taken at the event were taken at Ki Chi Saga Park a few years ago.

There will still be a 5K run/walk that will take place at the park. The medallion hunt will also take place at the park. There will be helicopter rides on Saturday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., rides are not free.

As of right now, it looks like the kid's pro ice snowmobile races will take place on the lake behind Trappers Restaurant in Chisago City.

The Freedom Riders - snowmobile division will once again ride for a "Tribute to the Troops".

This year there is a new contest at the celebration. Smooshing. What is smoosh? It's where four people hook their feet into two boards and try to manuver to the finish line. Trust me, it is a blast and not as easy as you think. They are looking for teams. You can register at the Chamber office or at the event which takes place on Saturday at noon at the park.

The balloons will re-launch on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. and again on Sunday at 7:45 a.m.

I will not bore you with every detail about the celebration, but do note that in this weekend's Search Shopper you will find the 2012 Celebration of the Lakes tab. The tab will detail all the events taking place next weekend. Along with that, you will find advertisements from wonderful local businesses who once again, came out to support a community event. Thank you so much to these businesses for their continued support.

Last week I wrote about our Search Shopper now being online. I invited you to come take a look and see how easy we have made reading the Search for you.

Well aparently the word is catching on, because we had an increase in website trafiic by nearly four thousand visitors last week. That is astounding! I am telling you folks, you have to look and see the cool changes we have made to our website. The best part is, it's not even our new website which will be up and running in a week. It's all an effort to keep up with the times and technology. We hope you enjoy.

I just got some numbers for our local food shelf. For those of you who think it doesn't get utilized, think again. Over 4,400 people were served this year. Over 170 new families registered this year. Of those numbers, 133,712 pounds of food were given out. Over 93,000 pounds of food was purchased with donation money. Absolutely amazing.

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