Kimberly Jodoin of Sault Ste. Marie will be among performers skating at the Ice Follies in St. Ignace Sunday, February 8. The sixth grade student already has won three gold medals in competition this year in Canada. (Photograph courtesy of Lori Jodoin) National champion figure skaters will take to the ice, performing in the fourth annual Ice Follies at Little Bear East Arena in St. Ignace Sunday, February 8, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Proceeds from the event will support the Mackinac County Child Protection Roundtable for Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention.

Featured skater Madeleine Rutledge is the 2009 National finalist in Juvenile Free Skating. The 10- year-old from Sault Ste. Marie is ranked 20th in the nation and recently competed at Junior National Figure Skating Championships in Lake Placid, New York.

The Sault Ste. Marie Middle School student began her love of skating at a family outing when she was three years old.

"She just loved it from day one," said her mother, Tammy Rutledge.

Miss Rutledge trains at the Hiawatha Skating Club and she skates before school two mornings a week. She represents the Detroit Skating Club. Each June, she trains at the International Skating Center in Simsbury, Connecticut.

Also performing from the Hiawatha Skating Club are sisters Katie and Linda Raynard of Pickford.

Two skaters from the Lake Superior Figure Skating Club also will perform Sunday, Taylor Ewing, a sophomore at Sault Area High School, and Kimberly Jodoin, a Sault Area Middle School student who recently won three gold medals at the Algoma Interclub Competition in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

Miss Jodoin has been skating since she was two years old and began competing at age five. She is a member of the Hiawatha and Lake Superior Figure Skating clubs.

Award-winning members of the Twin Bays Skating Club of Traverse City will participate, featuring solo, pair, and triple figure skater competitors.

Two Northern Lights Synchronized Skating Teams will showcase their programs. The Open Juvenile and Beginner 2 synchronized skating teams competed at the Dr. Richard Porter Synchronized Classic in Ann Arbor in December. They competed against more than 160 teams from the U.S. and Canada. The Beginner 2 team placed third in its division and the Open Juvenile team finished sixth. The two synchronized teams also competed in the Mid-America Synchronized Championship competition in Fraser in January. Out of eight teams competing, the Beginner 2 team took third place and the Open Juvenile team finished fifth.

Advance tickets to the Ice Follies are $5 per person or $20 per family (admits up to eight family members). Tickets are $6 per person and $26 per family at the door. Tickets are available at Little Bear East Arena, St. Ignace Chamber of Commerce, Bentley's B-n-L Cafe, Michigan State University Extension Office, Central Savings Bank, First National Main Branch Bank, and U.P. State Credit Union in St. Ignace and Cedarville. For tickets, people may also contact Karen Raynard in Pickford at (906) 647- 6697 or Mary Swiderski at 643- 7345 (days) or 643-1565 (evenings).