It is time to get a good grip on the winter and shake loose the blues and blahs so many are feeling throughout the area.

As February drags on, it seems that adding one day to the month this year is like adding a decade. The 2008 Maine WinterFest and Chevrolet Derby held throughout the Sebago Lake area for three days this weekend will provide Lakes Region residents and visitors a chance for fresh air, big prizes, charitable support and best of all, a way to smile at a winter that has seemed endless.

Whether dealing with rising fuel costs, power blackouts or just trying to get out of the driveway, readers have faced a sneering season with long icy fingernails. The lure of a new snowmobile for the biggest fish caught this weekend and an entry to win a new truck in the statewide ice fishing derby March 8 and 9 for any fisherman entering the derby is huge, but a day on the ice at Sebago Lake or the grounds at Point Sebago Resort is the tonic for the winter weary of all ages.

In talking about combining the Winterfest and Sebago Ice Fishing Derby in 2007, organizer Tom Noonan said some people who spoke with him about the festival said the Point Sebago location seemed a long drive from home.

Noonan pointed out the resort is half the distance to the Fryeburg Fairgrounds from Portland, and it should be added the festival and fishing derby combination could become the same kind of tradition as the Fryeburg Fair or Windham Summerfest.

The three days of events beginning with a fishing derby for children combines all that Maine residents treasure about the climate here and adds twists like a shopping mall that boosts local businesses and charitable causes.

The fun found riding in helicopters and hot-air balloons, sledding through an ice sculpture of Rapunzel or watching the car and motorcycle races on ice could also raise as much as $150,000 for organizations like Camp Sunshine, the Maine Children’s Cancer Fund and local milfoil eradication.

A local businessman such as Bob LeClerc, owner of the Odd Shop in Windham, rents a table at the festival Ice Mall each year to help his community and his bottom line. The swimmers at the Polar Ice Dip raised more than $75,000 for the Maine Children’s Cancer Fund in 2007.

The intent and effects are the same, and visiting the festival will provide fond memories when mud season arrives. Money raised by the Sebago Lake Rotary Club will be donated to local causes throughout the year, helping the community long after these three winter days have passed.

Whether catching up with old friends at one of the three weigh stations, showing off an ice shack complete with a wide-screen TV, or setting a speed record with a snowmobile, send the seasonal stresses away this weekend at the Maine WinterFest and Chevrolet Derby.

-David Harry, editor