Some people will go to crazy extremes for the right reasons.
How about jumping into 40-degree waters in the middle of February?
Special Olympics of Missouri hopes 200 people think it's a good idea. Organizers aim to break last year's record of 164 participants in the annual Polar Bear Plunge at Table Rock Lake. The fundraiser's fifth installment in Branson is slated for Feb. 13.
"No one knows what the weather is going to be like," says Cy Bortner, who works in marketing and promotions for Silver Dollar City and is a veteran of the icy waters on behalf of Special Olympics.
Conditions could hardly get worse than the first year, when it snowed eight inches the night before. "They took those bullet heaters you see at football games and melted a path down to the water," Bortner recalls.
Last year, with milder temperatures, Bortner placed second in the race for donations with $1,300 to his name. In all, Special Olympics raised more than $22,000 in the 2009 Branson event. The goal this year is $27,000 to fund Special Olympics' year-round sports training and athletic competitions for children and adults with mental disabilities.
Participants commit to raise at least $50 for Special Olympics, and not everyone lives up to the name on the event.
"You could plunge and just go up to your ankles," Bortner concedes, before offering a warning. "It's not what everyone else does, and you may have to bear with the heckling when you turn around and go back out. ... Most prefer to go under."
At the sound of "ready, set, plunge," participants in groups of 10 take the dive into the frigid waters.
"The old idea of 'It's a lot warmer if you just stay in' does not hold true," Bortner adds. "When folks get out, they're usually getting out in a hurry. That's part of the fun, to watch them leave the water."
The event draws a crowd, too. Held each year at Still Waters Resort on Indian Point, the activities cover a nearly 75-yard stretch of shoreline, with everything from changing trailers to barbecue trailers on site. Many of the 1,700 Special Olympics athletes and their families come out to watch, Bortner says. After all, the event is about them.
"I love the cause and I love the adventure of it," says Bortner, who this year is event committee chairman. "These folks may live a life of closed-in boundaries (but) once they delve out into that adventure (of Special Olympics competition) there's an immediate difference, there's change to 'I can do this.'"
Regular plunge participants are members of the Springfield and Branson police departments, including Branson Chief Caroll McCullough, the Stone County Fire Department and the Missouri Highway Patrol Troop D. The Branson Tourism Center raised the most money by a team last year, with $1,456 collected.
Also, teams from Kohl's, White River Valley Electric and Hooters have jumped in, and Bortner says Branson entertainer Clay Cooper is participating this year.
Half the fun is dressing in costume, says Bortner, who's still deciding how he'll top his penguin tuxedo and "Sir Plunge A Lot" costumes. Others dress as superheroes or in their summer swimsuits, but there is a "golden plunger" award given to the most creative costumes.[[In-content Ad]]
