Some cool customers

WASILLA — Even outdoor temperatures dipping down to 15 degrees with brisk wind couldn’t stop 35 questionably sane plungers from jumping into Finger Lake Saturday at the fourth annual Mat-Su Polar Plunge.

Organizer Marty Metiva and announcer John Klapperich cheered on each jumper, many in costume. Metiva, wearing a white bathrobe and sunscreen, looked on with a bit of apprehension about making his traditional jump.

“I think I’ll watch for now,” Metiva announced.

Blind mice, 1960s hippies, Bison-man, Goldilocks (along with her three bears) and bare-chested Air Force cadets were just a handful of the colorful characters who took to the chill for charity.

One by one, each jumper tiptoed out the back door of the Palmer Elks Lodge and took their positions by the 20-foot hole in the lake. Most jumped, but some slipped on their dismount. A few, reluctant to the end, had a loving hand give them a push.

Each jumper brought a little personality to the lake, along with his or her $50 entry fee and additional money raised for the Mat-Su Special Olympics and other local causes.

Denmark exchange student Andreas Pederson raised his hands in the air in conquest after his plunge. Spectators cheered and laughed at the facial expressions of plungers as they surfaced to the top of the icy pool. Many commented on the real freeze outside of the water.

“The air’s colder than the water,” said a quivering Jason Dickson, who wore nothing but a pair of swimming trunks and a smile.

B.J. and Erlena Reddmendez, a mother and daughter team, took their third plunge together to support Special Olympics, an organization in which both are involved. B.J. Reddmendez will begin aquatic coaching for the Mat-Su team next month.

“I have two brothers and a son in the Mat-Su Special Olympics,” B.J. said. “It’s something that means a lot to me.”

B.J.’s brother, Jerry Famolari, hesitated to take on Finger Lake, but finally made the leap with much coercion from a growing audience.

“I made it!” Famolari exclaimed. “I almost gave up there for a minute.”

By rounding up pledged donations for their jumps at school and work, the Reddmendezs raised $450 for Special Olympics.

Once out of the water, plungers were quick to get indoors, where hot chicken vegetable soup, hot toddies and cocoa awaited.

U.S. Marine Albert Dervaes said he had been looking forward to jumping, but wished more Marines could have done the same.

“Maybe next year they’ll join me,” Dervaes said.

More than $10,000 was raised at Saturday’s Mat-Su Polar Plunge, with pledges yet to be counted.

Members of the First National Bank team received a golden plunger award and a rafting trip from Alaska River Sports for raising the most money as a team, $1,732.

Erin Troutman and Zach Fleming, a young Wasilla couple, decided dressing up as two of the three blind mice would be fun. Fleming, an Elks member, got his mother to help with the costumes, raised $225 and took to the ice.

“I thought maybe being blind we would have the option of missing the hole,” Fleming joked.

Not so. The blind mice took their jump and won best costume.

After the plungers dried off and warmed up, leftover attendants took to the ice again for ice horseshoes and an ice golf tournament, fish toss and frozen chicken bowling.

For Metiva, whose plunging motto is “freezin’ for a reason,” the event was everything but a cold reception. “This is for the community, and now that we have a home at the Elks, we can assure a life for this event.”

Contact J.J. Harrier at valleylife@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.