Pottstown ‘polar bears’ take the plunge on New Year’s Day

POTTSTOWN — Hot cocoa, hot dogs and sauerkraut?

Check.

Flying Christmas trees?

Check

Ballerina tutus?

Check.

Bizarre and often hilarious headgear and costumes?

Check.

Jumping into 34-degree water on a 25-degree day?

Check.

Wait, what?

Welcome to the 17th Annual Pottstown Polar Bear Plunge, a tradition steeped in fun, fashion, and temporary insanity.

It’s that time of year when dozens, in this case more than 60 people, in various states of undress gather in Riverfront Park and, at the end of a 10-second countdown, make their way — sometimes in headlong fashion, oftentimes with a tinge of regret — into the frigid waters of the Delaware River’s largest tributary, the Schuylkill; third-place winner of Pennsylvania’s hardest river to spell award.

There, kept safe by Phoenixville’s Friendship Dive and Rescue team, they frolic — however briefly — in the sediment-saturated waters and make their way back, often with great difficulty, to the shore where those who avoided this fate by promising to take pictures of their plunge await them with towels, words of congratulation, and thoughts of self-preservation.

The universal takeaway? Hardest hit by the cold water are the toes.

Alan Siberini came all the way from Germansville, near Allentown, to take his first plunge and check this off his bucket list.

Asked if he had ever done a polar bear plunge before, he replied, “In the morning when I shower. This was much harder. But it was worth it. People need to get out of their comfort zone.”

Siberini’s comfort zone narrowed significantly when he got stuck in the Schuylkill’s legendary mud and needed to be helped out by a member of the dive team.

Those volunteers may be the most comfortable on the scene. Craig Lloyd insisted that the thermal, waterproof wetsuit he was wearing kept him warm and dry while standing in the water. “I’m toasty in here,” he insisted.

We’ll take his word for it.

“Toasty” is also the word that describes those standing a tolerable distance from the sweltering bonfire set and kept watch over by Pottstown firefighters.

That’s where the river-dunkers flocked after making their way back to the shore. Some, like Pottstown Mayor Stephanie Henrick, were actually steaming as the blazing fire evaporated the river water off her tutu.

Speaking to the crowd before the plunge, Henrick congratulated the community on “making it through 2025. We faced some obstacles, but we adapted, and we pushed through. We are resilient, because we are Pottstown, and we begin the year by standing together as we enter the frigid water.”

If freezing your privates off is not your thing, you can always participate in other activities typical for the day, like throwing Christmas trees.

Yup, Pottstown does that too, complete with a dedicated pair of measurers who unwind the measuring tape whether the throw is 20.2 feet or .2 feet.

The winner of that questionable contest was Mike Mize of Downingtown, who also took part in the Polar 5K, earning a bib indicating as much. He completed the day’s triathlon by also eating a pork hot dog with sauerkraut, thus beefing up his Pennsylvania Dutch cred.

Mize said he has partaken in the plunge since 2010. “It’s a good, classic community event. I really enjoy events where the community comes together like this,” he said.