ALBANY, Ohio — On Saturday, hundreds of eager participants from across Athens County gathered at Lake Snowden to plunge their bodies in freezing cold water.
The Polar Bear Plunge is an annual event hosted by the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 9893 and Wild Country 107.7 FM WSEO to raise money for the Athens County Board of Developmental Disabilities (ACBDD), which runs the Beacon School.
Since the event’s inception eight years ago, the Polar Bear Plunge has raised $93,000, which has gone to good use for a variety of projects at the Beacon School, as previously reported by The Messenger.
Proceeds from this year’s event will go toward purchasing new playground equipment and shade structures to keep children cool in the summertime.
At 9:20 a.m., the first group of plungers dived into the frigid waters of Lake Snowden, which was still covered in a thick layer of ice left over from late January’s snowstorms despite recent warm temperatures.
Waiting in the water were dry suited firefighters from the Albany Area Volunteer Fire Department, the Waterloo Fire Department and the York Township Volunteer Fire Department, who were ready to spring into action in case anyone needed to be rescued.
Along with being present for safety reasons, the event also gives the three fire departments a chance to practice rescuing people from water, Lee Bolen, the chief of the Albany Area Volunteer Fire Department, explained.
“We don’t have a lot of water rescue situations, [so] this is a good time for us to get our suits in the water [and] get a feel for how they operate [and] how they feel,” Bolen said. “When you get in the water in these suits, you can feel [the water pressure] from your feet all the way up through your legs. You can actually feel it compressing down on you.”
The Albany Area Volunteer Fire Department has been present at the event since its inception in 2017. While some members of the Albany Area Volunteer Fire Department have participated in it, Bolen has yet to take the plunge despite pressure from his colleagues, he said.
“They’ve tried for many years to get me to jump in the water and it’s not happening,” Bolen chuckled.
As always, Thom Williams, vice president and co-owner of TMCR Broadcasting LLC, was conducting a live radio broadcast at the event. While Williams participates in many charitable events throughout the year in Athens County, the Polar Bear Plunge remains a particular favorite of his, he said.
“It’s a great fundraiser. People have lots of fun and I just love to see the people who turn out,” Williams said.
Initially, there were concerns among the event’s organizers about cold temperatures leading to reduced turnout. However, as temperatures warmed up over the past couple of weeks, more people signed up to take the plunge, Brian Johnson, the commander of VFW Post 9893, explained.
It is estimated that 250 people signed up for the Polar Bear Plunge. While this is fewer than the 310 people who did the plunge last year and around half of the 475 people who did the plunge in 2024, VFW Post 9893 and its partners still considered the event a success, Johnson said.
“I really can’t think of an organization that drives us more than the Beacon School [and] the need for those children is such that we keep wanting to do this year in and year out,” Johnson explained.
Many groups from throughout Athens County sponsor teams for the Polar Bear Plunge, including Holzer Health System, the Knights of Columbus, Ohio University Veterans and Military Student Services and the Ohio University Air Force and Army ROTC programs.
“I like that [the Polar Bear Plunge] brings out the community,” Ray Dixson, the assistant director of Ohio University Veterans and Military Student Services, said. “I don’t necessarily like jumping in the water, but I do it [because] it’s 20-30 seconds of freezing, then you go out and get changed, [so it’s] not that big of a deal.”
Another person who participated in the Polar Bear Plunge was Tye Koon, who took the plunge into Lake Snowden alongside her mother to celebrate her mother’s birthday.
While the initial plunge wasn’t so bad, things took a chilly turn after she submerged more of her body into the water, Koon explained.
“It was fine until you went under and then it took your breath away,” Koon said.
While the Polar Bear Plunge can be an unpleasant experience for first timers, it’s almost become routine for those who’ve done it multiple times such as Andrew Monk, a schoolteacher and wrestling coach at Alexander Local Schools.
“I remember the first time I jumped in; I had to psych myself up for it and I told myself that if I ever saw somebody fall into a frozen lake, I would have to have the mentality to be able to jump in and rescue them,” Monk explained. “Every time after that seems to have gotten a lot easier.”
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