Another New Year, Another Group Of People Taking The Polar Plunge
(CBS) – It's a New Year's Day tradition in Chicago: taking a dip in Lake Michigan. Some do it for a cause, some for the heck of it.
WBBM's Mike Krauser reports.
About fifty brave souls started the New Year with a dip in the icy waters of Lake Michigan.
They gathered in parkas and blankets at sunrise when the wind chill was in the teens.
Some were consuming what one woman holding a Bloody Mary called "liquid courage." She said there was no way to prepare.
And in they went, individually and in groups, some making good on a promise to those who pledged money the non-profit Greyhound Rescue.
Others were doing it "just because." One of the latter said she thought of it as a baptism for 2016.
The Greyhound rescue group said they raised $16,000 for their mission to place retired racing dogs in homes. They've done it for nine years and said in that time they've raised more than $100,000.
The lake temperature was in the upper-30s.