Sponsors are hoping that this year’s Polar Bear Plunge builds on last year’s dramatic increase in money raised for the Special Olympics.
Registrations are being accepted from area residents who want to participate, and from individuals and businesses who want to sponsor or help with the plunge.
The Plunge this year will be held at 11:30 a.m. on Feb. 28 at Mouse Lake, 1101 Topeka St.
Funds are raised by the plungers, who solicit sponsorships for their dives.
The event, which began in February 2007, was an immediate success. Promoters initially had hoped to raise $5,000 from the event. Instead, a total of 73 plungers found enough sponsors to bring in $11,560.19, which stayed in Emporia to help local Special Olympics athletes at various competitions throughout the year.
Because temperatures were bitterly cold on the jump day, and had been for preceding days, too, volunteers sawed out a large area of ice at the shore to open up water for the plunge.
Despite the ice and cold of that first event, many of the plungers and a host of others signed on for the second year.
“It really exploded on us last year,” said Jeff Cope, who has helped organize the plunge both years and also has participated with his wife, Karen, and their children as part of the Cope family team.
In 2008, the number of participants jumped to 119, who raised $27,365, more than two and a half times the amount brought in the first year.
The second year’s warmer weather may have made the jump more challenging.
“I thought the second year was worse, and we didn’t have to cut ice,” Cope said. “(W)hen it’s cold, you’re cold already, so when you jump in the water, it’s not that big a change.”
Cope said that in either case, plunging into frigid waters in the dead of winter is not as bad as it sounds. Sponsors set up a large tent with a heavy-duty heater inside to warm the divers post-plunge.
“You come up and you take that gasp because it takes your breath away,” he said. “Then you get out and sprint to the tent and it’s fine.”
Information about the event may be had by calling (800) 444-9803, and additional details about the plunge will be released later.
Local law enforcement officers also raise money for Special Olympics with an annual torch run, with various departments handing off torches from jurisdiction to jurisdiction as the officers make their way across the state to the Olympics site.