Polar bears take the plunge once again after Covid pause

The air was chilly and the sky partly sunny last Sunday as thousands gathered for the annual Long Beach Polar Bear Splash, defying the elements while testing their fortitude and raising money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

The event was virtual last year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Instead of ocean bathing, people took “splashes from home,” posting videos of themselves with water falling over their heads.

It may have been fun, but nothing can replace the sharp tingle of a cold winter wave against the arms and chest.

“All my friends do this,” said Jimmy Karl as he prepared to take the plunge for the first time in three years. “It’s a lot of fun and it’s for a great cause.”

Last weekend’s Splash saw some changes as well. It usually takes place on Riverside Boulevard on Super Bowl Sunday, but this year the crowd gathered on Laurelton Boulevard the week before the big game. The location change was necessitated by construction on Riverside, and the date change was a result of the NFL’s lengthened schedule, according to Matt Goldweber, manager of community fundraising for Make-A-Wish.

“The community is unreal,” Goldweber said of Long Beach. “It’s the definition of a power community. Everyone is so willing to be a part of things and are always supporting.”

The Polar Bear Splash has become the biggest community fundraiser for Make-A-Wish, averaging about $500,000 in donations each year. Most proceeds come from the purchase of polar bear apparel, most notably sweatshirts. Tracey Anton, the senior manager of brand and communication for Make-A-Wish Metro New York, said the donations allow for the foundation to give their greatest gift — hope.

In 1998, two friends wanted to do a New Year’s Day plunge with the Coney Island Polar Bears for one of their birthdays. They couldn’t make it. So, they took the plunge on their own the next month, on Super Bowl Sunday, in their own city, Long Beach.

The two friends, Pete Meyers, now 58, and Kevin McCarthy, 64, said they invited their neighbors to join them the next time. To their surprise, 18 people showed up at the beach with them the following year. So, for fun, Meyers began making everyone sweatshirts with polar bears on them. Shortly after, the tradition gained a new meaning.

Two of Meyers’s neighbors, Mike and Patty Bradley, lost their son Paulie to leukemia at age 4 in 1997. They loved the polar bear sweatshirts and asked Meyers and McCarthy if they could begin selling them and donate the proceeds to Make-A-Wish in honor of their son in 2001.

“We immediately told them, ‘Yes, of course,’” Meyers said.

Soon, friends of friends started coming and the event was all over social media. About 40 people showed up the first year of the fundraiser in 2001 and raised $7,800, enough to “fulfill one wish,” Meyers said.

Now, 24 years later, $8 million and over 1,000 fulfilled wishes later, the event has become a Long Beach — and Long Island — tradition.

“The greatest thing Make-A-Wish does is give hope,” Anton said. “Kids in these situations don’t have a lot of say about what goes on in their lives. Hope and wishes are so empowering for them. It re-energizes them.”