Despite Thursday’s record-breaking cold, dozens of hardy souls are expected to take not one, but 24 dips into the frigid waters of Lake Michigan starting Friday afternoon.
The Law Enforcement Torch Run Super Polar Plunge, a charity event benefiting Special Olympics Illinois, begins at 2 p.m. Friday at North Beach in Evanston, and 56 participants have signed up take a dip in the lake every hour for 24 hours and stay in a tent on the beach for the duration.
The Super Polar Plunge is also the kickoff for 21 other upcoming Polar Plunges around the state. Last year, “The Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon and Mayor Rahm Emanuel famously took the plunge together at Chicago’s North Avenue Beach.
Temperatures are expected to edge into the 20s during the day Friday but with a wind chill that will make it feel like single-digit or subzero weather. Saturday is expected to be slightly warmer with very low temperatures returning Sunday.
If the forecast remains the same, “we won’t have any cancellations this weekend,” said Corinne Zollars, spokeswoman for Special Olympics Illinois.
Zollars said her organization considers a number of factors, including temperatures, snow and wind, when evaluating whether to cancel a plunge.
For the safety of participants, paramedics and divers will be on hand, and warming tents will be available for those who need it, she said.
“We’ve been doing this for years, and we are very particular about our risk management,” she said, adding that she’s not aware of anyone dropping out of the scheduled plunges.
But leaders in at least one suburb decided the event was too risky, given the cold.
Des Plaines officials decided this week to cancel the Penguin Plunge Mayor Matt Bogusz planned for Feb. 28.
Other local leaders expressed concerns about the health risks a plunge could pose to participants.
Mary Pocuis, who has participated in the Super Polar Plunge since its inception 10 years ago, said, for her, the benefits of the plunge far outweigh any of the risks.
“Once you see what it does for Special Olympics Illinois, and you see it firsthand, you’re hooked,” said Pocuis, a longtime Special Olympics volunteer and fundraiser.
The Super Polar Plunge alone has already raised $115,000 for the organization, Zollars said.
As far as dealing with the cold, “you don’t think about it,” Pocuis said. “You just go and do it.”
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