Are you nuts if you jump through frozen ice into a frigid lake in February? Perhaps. But if you jump, take a victory lap, and then jump again, you’re definitely nuts! Check out this video of Empire resident Gerry Shiffman (with Jack Gyr and others) taking part in the annual Polar Dip as part of Empire’s Winterfest this past weekend.
It was the time of Winterfest, mid-February, in the village of Empire, when temperatures dipped well below the freezing mark. Snow had been shoveled to clear an area for ice-skating on South Bar Lake. Earlier in the day a fire truck had been there to spray a fine mist of water making a smooth surface.
Over in Empire, on Saturday, February 19, the crazy among us jumped into a hole carved in South Bar Lake. Word on the street is that those folks will thaw out by Memorial Day, in time for the tourists’ arrival. Here are photos from this year’s Empire Winterfest: