Manic Monday | A Little DIP Anyone?

This is it, the last few days of 2019 and more importantly the last few days of the decade. There will be a lot of celebrations taking place over the next few days and many a New Year/New Decade resolution to be made and possibly to be broken.

One phenomenon that has continued to grow in popularity over the past many years is the January 1st annual polar bear dip. While there may be other similar swims originating in other parts of the world, my limited research has found that the first swim in this province took place in Vancouver in 1920 when a gentleman by the name of Peter Pantages dared or rather encouraged a group of his friends to join him in taking the plunge. As time has shown, more and more places and more and more people have continued to take part in this "breathtaking" activity and there are polar bear swims almost everywhere you go.

Those that make the effort are said to feel refreshed, revived and invigorated afterward; a perfect start to any new year.

This year CRIS Adaptive Adventures in Kelowna is hosting their 5th annual fundraising dip on January 1st and you can register and help support this very worthwhile organization by registering at this link: https://trellis.org/crispolarbeardip

If you can’t make it to Kelowna you can always help by supporting a “dipper” with an online donation. And you should look for a polar bear swim in your community to join in the frigid fun.

However you choose to start the year, I hope that sets the tone for the next 12 months and the next 10 years.

Happy New Year, and Happy New Decade...

Glenn Mandziuk, TOTA President & CEO