Mitch Hotts and photographer David Angell reported for The Macomb Daily on the Polar Plunge in New Baltimore, which took place over the weekend despite the beyond-frigid temperatures. Here’s their report:
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| This plunger came up with a perch |
Roxanne Stein had one word to say after emerging from the frigid
waters of Lake St. Clair on Sunday during the 14th annual Polar Plunge
in New Baltimore.
“Phenomenal,” said Stein, a Harrison Township resident who had
made the plunge numerous times in past years. “It gets better every
year.”
The plunge is a wildly popular event at the Walter and Mary Burke
Park that serves as a fundraiser for the New Baltimore Lions Club
charitable projects and is part of the annual Winterfest celebration in
New Baltimore.
This year, city fire officials took steps to warn the roughly 300
brave souls who volunteered to take a quick dip in Anchor Bay about the
dangerously cold temperatures that have lingered in southeastern
Michigan for the past week.
Volunteers were told they could skip the dip and still have their
pledges count. Observers estimated about one-third of the plungers
decided to go ahead and strip down to a bathing suit or other skimpy
apparel to jump into the 4-foot-deep hole manned by firefighters.
Among those who decided not to take the plunge was Judy Gable,
chairwoman of the event and Lions Club treasurer. She had planned to
make her debut plunge in a Lions costume to honor a bet she had made
with Winterfest Chairman Fred Kopson, but decided the weather conditions
were just too risky.
“You can call me the cowardly lion today, I don’t mind,” Gable said.
