The crowd began forming at Shepard Park Beach around noon today for the Lake George New Year’s Day Polar Plunge. Under brilliant blue skies, a Speedo-wearing Viking gingerly stepped through the snow in bare feet. Another plunger arrived painted head-to-toe in the colors of the rainbow. Teams wore matching t-shirts over their swimwear; one group sported matching polar bear hats.
The festival atmosphere and good cheer of the Polar Plunge is a tradition that began in the 1970s and never fails to draw a crowd to the shore of Lake George every January 1. Linda Davidson, her daughter Becky and their friend Nolan Wu came up for the weekend from Long Island specifically to attend the plunge. The trio stayed on shore to watch Linda’s husband join in the waves of plungers.
This year, two full waves, 400 plungers each, and a third wave of approximately 350 ran into the frigid waters, splashed around and returned to the snow-covered beach. “Wash off all that bad stuff from 2016,” organizer Linda Duffy urged the crowd. “Start 2017 out clean; no more mean in 2017.” Spectators lined the Lakefront Walkway with cameras poised. Duffy noted the number of spectators this year appeared to be larger than in past years.
DJ Chas Giknis of Absolute Sound served as Master of Ceremonies leading the countdown to each plunge. He blasted music from the Shepard Park Amphitheatre, including tributes to Prince, George Michaels, David Bowie, Glen Frey, Keith Emerson and Greg Lake, artists who died over the past year. After the third wave of plungers had returned to the shore, Ginkis led his own fourth wave, relinquishing his microphone and running into the water. “It’s the best cup of coffee you could ask for,” he said of the invigorating effect of a January dip into Lake George.
Not all the action in Lake George Village this New Year’s Day involved swimming. Restaurants and pubs along the shoreline were packed with revelers. Many took their drinks outdoors to enjoy by fire pits and deck heaters. On Beach Road, the Lake George Steamboat Company’s ice bar, created to begin their yearlong bicentennial celebration, was serving up drinks with two food trucks providing lunch. Out on the lake, the Adirondac and the Lac du Saint Sacrement carried passengers up the lake for New Year’s Day cruises.