Special Olympics Wisconsin-Southeastern Region’s 13th annual Polar Plunge took place today at The Brat Stop.
This was a new location for the event with a new format. A giant pool was set-up in The Brat Stop’s parking lot.
In case you might think that this arrangement was somehow warmer — and therefore softer — on the participants, consider this. Organizers had to remove a 2- to 5-inch layer of ice from the pool this morning in preparation for the event, said Raechel Tudjan, Regional Director of Development, Special Olympics Wisconsin, Inc., Southeastern Region.
Plungers — and chickens who collected donations but didn’t take a dip — raised funds for Special Olympics programs in the area. Special Olympics Wisconsin’s Southeastern Regional office supports nearly 1,400 local Special Olympics athletes, from five counties–Racine, Kenosha, Rock, Walworth and Jefferson.
Preliminary figures as of Saturday night showed about 300 participants raising $60,000, Tudjan said.
Here’s some video for you to get a feel of the process, starting off with the Kenosha County Copsicles, a team of sheriff’s deputies:
Here are some more photos of the event:
The dive teams members that work the event in the pool for safety purposes pose for a photo before the plunging starts.
Workers regularly took ice of the pool during the event. Brrrrrr!
Working to clear the ice from the plunge pool early Saturday morning. /Submitted photo
Note: Polar Plunge is a westofthei.com sponsor.
