Dozens of swimmers took to Lake Michigan on Thursday in Ogden Dunes as part of an unofficial New Year’s Day polar plunge.
Elsie Anderson, of Ogden Dunes, greeted many of them with a shot of Fireball cinnamon whiskey to warm them up from the inside out afterward, pouring the shots into plastic cups held by shaking hands.
“Sometimes you want to start traditions and continue traditions,” Anderson said. Doing so builds stronger communities, she believes, offering her 26 years of wisdom from previous polar plunges.
The Ogden Dunes Fire Department was on hand in case of emergencies.
“It’s the drying part that you need to hurry up,” Gabriel Monroy, of Ogden Dunes, said.
Bryan Beyster, of Portage, acted as cheerleader for wife Toni Beyster. “I could be that guy right there fishing for perch,” he said, pointing to a boat on the horizon. “I like to stay in the boat.”
Toni, though, wanted to do “something adventurous.”
“It’s incredible,” she said. “I can’t even feel my fingers.” She plans to return next year.
Toni took part two years ago but missed last year. “Sometimes it’s hard to remember to take time for you and not just be a parent,” she said.
“I’m a little warmer now,” she said after her shot of Fireball.
Amanda Tomczak, of Griffith, and Logan Reid, of Hobart, are friends who are sort of twinsies, sharing an Aug. 13 birthday.
“I’d do it again,” said Tomczak, who went all the way underwater to get her hair wet. “It’s my first time doing it.”
Tomczak, Reid and their friend Maggie Liston, of Hobart, were at Indiana Dunes State Park for the annual Jan. 1 hike to celebrate the new year and decided to go to Ogden Dunes for a dip in the lake.
The beach’s address was on the Facebook event page, but they misread the address and rang the doorbell at a house with the same number as the beach access point. No one answered, but they followed the crowd to find their way to an appropriate parking spot and the beach.
Tomczak and Reid were the final two swimmers on Thursday.
“Now we jumped into a freezing cold lake together,” Reid said. “I should have gone under. Next year.”
“I didn’t think about it,” Tomczak said. “If I stop to think, it will mess me up.”
Liston, their videographer, didn’t get wet this year but is thinking about it for next year.
John Greenfield-Hillesland, of Ogden Dunes, got “very, very cold” Thursday.
“We just moved here right before Thanksgiving,” he said, and wanted to join his neighbors in the tradition. “I had nothing else to do, and it seemed like fun.”
Jon Lehmann, of Ogden Dunes, said his son Samuel, 4, wore a swimsuit but it was too cold for the boy. Dad, though, spoke about the experience while wearing a stocking cap, coat, and a towel around his waist.
“Honestly, the cold doesn’t hit you until you’re leaving the water,” Lehmann said. “I still can’t feel my fingers.”
Friends Jay Combs, of Ogden Dunes, and Sophia Hoogeveen, of Dyer, went in the water together. “You forget how to breathe,” Combs said, and use a lot of adrenaline.
Sophia admitted to being “just insane, basically,” as her motivation to swim when the air temperature was 20.
Edwin Aviles and Trevor Alexander, both members of the Ogden Dunes Fire Department, went in the water. It was “just a fresh start to the year,” Alexander said.
Aviles hadn’t taken the polar plunge before but said he will do it again next year.
“It’s a roller coaster of emotion,” Alexander said. “After like a minute, it’s refreshing.”
“This is the only time it’s OK to run like a girl,” said Steve Whittmer, of Kouts, who showed up for moral support but not to swim.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
