COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho — It was a chilly start to the new year for hundreds of people who gathered Wednesday morning for the decades old Polar Plunge at Lake Coeur d’Alene.
The lake at Sanders Beach sat around 44 degrees but that didn’t stop people from taking part in the tradition, including the Polar Plunge’s founder, Pat Mitchell, who has been diving every year since the first one in 1978.
Mitchell said he and buddies were playing cards when they thought of it, “[Because] a friend of ours had a house right over there. His parents and, we just started it, and then it grew.”
And grow it did to nearly 50 years later and now hundreds joining Mitchell annually.
“It’s like a reunion every year because I’ll see people,” Mitchell said. “It’s just gathering place for people.”
Some people gathered included best friends, Gail and Julie who took the plunge together for their 15th year in a row.
“It’s good for us. It’s a good way to start the year,” the two said.
And for first-timers, Saylor and Cambria, “It’s a new year’s first and fresh start.”
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