14th Annual Polar Bear Plunge
A NEW RECORD - 66 Plungers!
A record number of 66 people plunged into the icy waters of Long Lake at Harbor View Pub & Eatery for the 14th Annual Polar Bear Plunge on New Year’s Day. Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Northwoods Executive Director, Amy Mareno, said that she was excited to see another record breaking year, which was up from a record number of 55 plungers in 2009. The corporate sponsorships, raffles, and pledge money brought in by the plungers totaled over $12,000 – just a little shy of last year’s total.
Mareno said that the success of this year’s Plunge was due partly to the high number of first time Plungers. She went on to say that she was impressed to have 30 “first timers” take the Plunge this year. The Phillips High School won the challenge award this year by being the school district with the most Plungers. The only school sports team represented this year was the Phillips Baseball team, so they will also receive an award for having the most participants.
In their 4th year of participation, the Catawba-Harmony Fire Department was the first group to take the Plunge this year. The Catawba-Harmony Fire Department was also the winner of the “Best Costume Award”, as they were dressed as gangsters and flappers from the “Roaring 20’s”. The winner of the “Most Pledges Award” was Chuck Vasek with a total of $700 in cash pledges, plus over $500 in prize donations for the event. Chuck took the plunge with The Hidden Prairie Rendezvous Club who had a total of 9 plungers. Mike Mader was a close runner-up for the prize with $652 in pledge money. Mike took the plunge for the 6th time this year with a team of 7 family members, who brought in the most money as a team with $1330 raised collectively.
All of the money raised at this year’s event will go to support Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Northwoods local mentoring programs.
Thank you to our Hosts, Duane and Bonny Grube and their crew at Harbor View, to the ice cutting crew, our Sponsors, and everyone else who helped to make this event a success!
Papa Bear Sponsors:
Flambeau Hospital/Marshfield Clinic
First National Bank
Slaby, Deda, Marshall, & Reinhard
Price County TelCom
Georgia Pacific/Lionite
Memorial Health Center
Mama Bear Sponsor:
Black Bear Lodge
Xcel Energy
Baby Bear Sponsors:
Boyd's Mason Lake Resort
Lake of the Torches Resort Casino
Price Electric Cooperative
Bob's Boob Tube
Phillips Area Chamber of Commerce
Park Falls Area Chamber of Commerce
