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SPI Crowd Takes On The Polar Dip Plunge
- Updated: January 12, 2024
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LFN Staff
Would you take the plunge? What better way to kick off the New Year than an ice-cold dip in the Texas Gulf. This year hundreds of people from all over flocked to South Padre Island to take the plunge. It’s a way to wash away the old to bring in the new. The “Polar Bear Dip” is a tradition that can bring thousands across the nation into jumping into the annual tradition.
This year the event was held on Monday January 1st at Claytons Beach Bar & Grill on South Padre Island. The event included live music and a costume contest. Padre Island Polar Bears, which was established in 1998 celebrated its 26th year taking the plunge into the cold ocean.
On that day the temperatures were in the upper 60’s making this one of the warmer options in the U.S. for fans of the New Year’s Day tradition. And in case you were wondering, the first Polar Bear Dip took place on January 1st, 1920, in the frigid waters of Vancouver Canada and was founded by a man named Peter Pantages who encouraged a few of his buddies to take a dip with him in the cold waters.