A dry New Year’s

Covid-19 has claimed another victim — Port Washington’s annual Polar Bear Plunge.

“We’re just putting it out there that we’re not sponsoring or promoting any kind of public gathering,” Polar Bear Club President Jon Crain said. “It’s sad to break the tradition, but as much as we’d like to do it, it just wouldn’t be a responsible thing to do.”

This isn’t the first time the event has been canceled — just two years ago, frigid cold with temperatures in the single digits and wind chills in the range of -15 degrees, forced organizers to call off the New Year’s event. 

But this is the first time a pandemic has caused the event to be canceled.

Crain said the club officers decided a couple of weeks ago to cancel this year’s Polar Bear Plunge.

The problem, Crain said, isn’t necessarily the more than 100 people who typically jump into the frigid water of the lake on Jan. 1.

It’s the crowd of hundreds who gather along the shore to watch that poses the greatest risk, he said.

“It’s very congested,” Crain said. “This just isn’t the right thing for us as a club to do.”

A sign stating that the event has been cancelled was placed on South Beach, where the Polar Bears take their plunge.

Crain acknowledged there are still likely to be people who take the annual dip in the lake on their own. It’s something they do at their own risk, he said, noting the fire department won’t be on hand in case of trouble.

“We don’t own the lake so we can’t tell them not to,” he said. “But as a club we’re not promoting anything. We realized this was not going to be a safe option and we did what we had to.”

The only thing left is to look forward to next New Year’s Day, when the Polar Bears are scheduled to take the plunge at 2 p.m.