PORT ANGELES – Air temperatures in the 30’s and even a mild warning from the Health Department couldn’t deter some 60 intrepid souls from accepting the challenge in Tuesday’s 31st Annual Polar Bear Dip at Hollywood Beach.
For the 6th consecutive year, Volunteer Hospice of Clallam County was the sponsor and benefactor of the fundraiser, and volunteer Dan Welden says they’re happy this year’s totals.
Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio
Welden says the event raised about $1000, with more donations still coming in, and gained 5 new volunteers.
The fact that participation was down a bit from last year is probably due to the Health Department’s posted warning at the beach of moderate levels of bacteria in the water.
Environmental Health Officer Sue Waldrip told KONP the source of the bacteria, commonly found in the intestinal tract of mammals and birds, was likely stirred up from the sea floor during the recent storms. She says she took another water test Wednesday morning and will get the results sometime Thursday.
(Photo courtesy of Dan Welden)