The challenges of the last two years didn’t stop 2,508 colony members (if you haven’t already heard this from us, a group of penguins is called a colony and ours is one of the best) from huddling up (yes, that’s another penguin reference – penguins huddle together to stay warm) to brrrave the chilly Atlantic at the 2022 Polar Plunge® Festival, Feb. 5. Plungers and runners not only celebrated an icy $1.1 million raised – and counting! – for Special Olympics Virginia, but also the event’s eleventh million dollar year!
In addition to the main event, students and teachers kicked things off Friday, Feb. 4 at the Cool School Penguin Plunge. 336 students raised $53,037 in support of Special Olympics Virginia’s 22,000+ athletes. And there was no worry about cold feet (even though penguin feet are made to walk long distances, sometimes up to 60 miles) because students earned plastic penguins for fundraising and cheered as those penguins (2,383 of them) raced to the finish line in YMCA Camp Grom’s lazy river. One lucky duck – oops we mean penguin – Kaylyn Roper, a student at Plaza Middle School, won a dunk tank celebration event for Plaza when her penguin crossed first (we wonder what Plaza penguin will be in the dunk tank first!).
Saturday morning, 260 runners and walkers dashed during the 4 Miler and 1 Miler along the boardwalk. Before the Plunge at 2 pm, plungers and festivalgoers enjoyed music by DJ Julian, the TJ Maxx Boardwalk Boogie Costume Parade and Contest, vendors, a life-size sand sculpture, ice carvings, food and fun.
While they weren’t all wearing penguin-like tuxedos (penguin camouflage has a special name, countershading, by the way), we couldn’t have done it without each and every plunger, runner, partner and volunteer in our colony. Here are a few additional highlights:
- The Ice-Aholics team took home the Top Team fundraising award, with more than $48,000 raised.
- Jennifer Bonds raised $21,096 and claimed the top individual fundraising prize and some cool Polar Plunge prizes!
This year’s event is presented by FM99, 106.9 THE FOX, WTKR News3, The Wawa Foundation, Virginia Natural Gas, Walmart, WGNT, the Virginia Knights of Columbus and the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics Virginia. Since 1993, more than 58,000 plungers have raised in excess of $18 million for Special Olympics Virginia. The inaugural Polar Plunge took place in 1993 at the Clarion Hotel when 108 plungers raised $11,000 for Special Olympics Virginia.