At noon on winter Sundays, race cars line up on Garfield Lake for the first heat. Spectators drive onto the ice, park on the east side of the track and watch from their vehicles at no charge. The Bemidji Pioneer reported that the Garfield Lake Ice Racers Club opened its 25th season this way on Jan. 11, 2026.
On the lake's northeast shore, a few hundred feet from the water, the county is adding a swing set and a seven-foot slide to a new public beach. Those same racers paid for part of that equipment.
A beach the county was given, and a playground still to come
Garfield Lake Park is newer than many Laporte residents might guess. The Park Rapids Enterprise reported in September 2025 that the 3.3-acre parcel was gifted to Hubbard County in 2016 for public use. Hubbard County Land Commissioner Cory Kimball noted that the land had long been used as a swimming beach.
When the park opened, Hubbard County Natural Resources Department staff had just finished building a picnic shelter with picnic tables. The swimming beach measures about 75 by 100 feet. The conditional use permit the county planning commission approved in September 2024 called for a parking lot, the shelter and a small playground, all set roughly 400 feet back from the shore. To get there, take Pickerel Road, a gravel township road that runs along the north edge of the lot.
The playground was the last piece of that plan. At their Sept. 1, 2026 meeting, Hubbard County commissioners accepted $2,000 from the Laporte Lions Club and $2,500 from the Garfield Lake Ice Racers. They then approved buying a $7,999 commercial swing set and slide from Pro Playgrounds. The vendor quote covers purchase and delivery.
Together, the two local groups covered $4,500 of the $7,999, which is more than half the cost of the equipment. The ice racing club put in the larger share.
Where an ice racing club gets $88,291 to give away
The $2,500 gift to the playground is a small part of what the club gives each year. The Park Rapids Enterprise reported that the club donated $88,291 in 2025. The money went to area veterans groups, schools and individuals in need. According to the Bemidji Pioneer, the club's donations over 25 years total in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The Enterprise names two sources for that money. The drivers pay to race, and the club sells pulltabs at local establishments. Spectators pay nothing. The people sitting in their trucks along the east side of the track are the audience, not the funders. Drivers who keep coming back each Sunday, and neighbors who buy pulltabs at the bar counter, cover the cost.
So a pulltab bought in town in February can end up as part of a slide at the beach in July. Through the club's general donations, it can also end up at a school or a veterans group.
The ice decides the schedule
A club whose fundraising centers on a frozen lake has to work around the weather. The 2026 season shows how much.
| Race Sunday, 2026 | What happened on the ice |
|---|---|
| Jan. 11 | Season opener, the club's 25th. Six races run, with Tristin Domski the only repeat winner |
| Jan. 18 | One set of races, then a stop for freezing temperatures and wind chill |
| Later in January | A Sunday skipped for extreme cold |
| March 8 | Season finale. The ice was breaking down, so the track was reconfigured and the second set canceled |
The club returned from its cold-weather break in early February, according to the Pioneer's race report. In all, the 2026 season got eight Sundays on the ice between Jan. 11 and March 8, the Park Rapids Enterprise reported.
Eight Sundays was a good winter compared with some recent ones. The Bemidji Pioneer reported that the whole 2024 season was lost to poor ice. The 2020 season was canceled too. That year, snow and slush sat on top of thin ice, so the heavy trucks and trailers that carry race cars could not safely reach the lake, and safety personnel decided conditions weren't fit for racing.
Cold has to arrive early enough to build ice that can hold vehicles and equipment. Then it has to ease up enough that people can stand outside and run a program. The 2026 season had both kinds of trouble. It lost a day to cold in January and finished on soft ice in March. Each season starts once the club gets permission to go on the lake. In 2026 that came in time for the Jan. 11 opener.
What a race Sunday looks like from the shoreline side
For anyone in Laporte who has driven past the track and never stopped, the 2026 coverage describes how a Sunday works:
- Start time: racing begins at noon on Sundays and continues each week as long as the ice allows.
- Getting there: the Pioneer's February report puts the track entrance just south of Laporte.
- Watching: spectators watch free, park on the east side of the track and stay in their vehicles. Restrooms are available.
- The program: heat races come first, then consolation races when needed, then features. Two full sets of races run each Sunday.
- The classes: starting in 2026, most drivers race in a single main class, plus a youth and rookie class for drivers 16 and under.
The youth class is the newest part of the program. Combined with the playground money, it shows a club that spends on the next generation both on the ice and on the beach.
The flagstand changed hands in 2026 too. Tom Lindahl, the club's flagman for 19 years, became its president and handed the flag to Gordon Hunter. Per the Pioneer, Hunter "performed well in his first time on the flagstand." The Enterprise reported that Justin, Kalin and Kurt Honer also joined the new flagging crew.
The club's year runs from November to April
The racing only covers about two months, but the club's calendar is longer. The Enterprise reported that at the club's annual meeting last November, members elected Tom Lindahl, Nick Wood and Nick Jessen to the board. They also created an ice committee to handle rules and race matters. That puts the planning for a January season in the same weeks Laporte is raking its last leaves.
The season wraps up in town. The Park Rapids Enterprise reported that the 2026 awards banquet was held Saturday, April 11, at The WoodShed in Laporte, which served a taco bar.
From the November meeting to the April banquet, the ice racing club has the lake for half the year. From late spring through summer, Garfield Lake Park has it, with its shelter, beach and the playground the county approved in September. Part of the cost of that swing set and slide came from the club's pulltab and race-fee money. To see how Laporte's other seasonal calendar works, read about the coffee shop facing the Paul Bunyan Trail, or browse more on the town at our Laporte neighborhood page.
If you own a place near Garfield Lake and wonder how a lake that stays busy in both winter and summer affects what your home is worth, Team Cermak can help. We're a family-led team that follows Laporte's calendar as closely as its listings, and we'll put real local numbers behind your answer. Get your free home valuation before the first race Sunday.
