Fishing, food, family and music. All right there on the north end of Knife Lake. This was Jolly Jolstad’s beloved winter home away from home, where every year the Local 49er would put another season of construction work behind him, drop a lure through a hole in the ice and pull out one crappie after another.

Now, Greg “Jolly” Jolstad is counting on you to do the same atop that frozen-over slice of heaven near his lifelong home of Mora and share memories while helping a young person make a way in this world.

Jolstad’s brothers and sisters, who still call Mora home, again this year are staging the second-annual “Jolly’s Jiggin Jamboree” ice-fishing tournament on Feb. 21. This afternoon fund-raiser is in memory of Jolly, the Local 49er who gave his life while working on the Interstate 35W Bridge when it collapsed on a hot August evening in 2007.

The money raised from the jamboree feeds a memorial scholarship fund for a current Mora High School senior to use for post-secondary education in the trades and labor. Jolly graduated from Mora in 1980.

Last year, the inaugural jamboree drew nearly 300 people and collected about $7,000.

“We were overwhelmed by the response from all his friends and union brothers,” said Gary Jolstad, Jolly’s brother. “The outpouring of love and support for Jolly was amazing. It was awesome.”

Jolly’s family needed little time to determine what activity to choose as the centerpiece for this good cause.

“Ice fishing was Greg’s passion,” said Jill Jolstad, Jolly’s sister-in-law. ”Almost everyday in the winter – the temperature never mattered ¬-- Greg would walk out to his favorite fishing hole on Knife Lake. He always caught the most fish – always had a keen sense for knowing where on the lake the fish were biting.”

Along with tipping a hard hat to Jolly and putting a young person on the path to a rewarding and prosperous profession, Gary Jolstad said the jamboree is also about “getting friends and former co-workers together to remember my brother.”

“There is nothing Jolly would like to do more than go crappie fishing with friends.  So we want to make sure at least one winter day each year he still can.”

To participate in the jamboree (which includes prize drawings), contact Gary and Jill Jolstad at 763-717-1644 or send an e-mail to jjill3@comcast.net.

You don’t have to bundle up to honor Jolly’s memory. Donations can be mailed to: Greg Jolstad Memorial Scholarship Fund, People’s Bank of Mora, 45 Union St. N.,  Mora, MN  55051.

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