A total of 177 jumpers took the leap into the frozen waters of Little Detroit Lake this past Saturday, Feb. 26, for the 26th Annual Polar Fest Plunge. The plunge raised over $58,500 for the Boys and Girls Club of Detroit Lakes.
It was a record-setting afternoon for the club: Executive Director Pat Petermann noted that the total raised was the largest ever.
After a crowd-pleasing rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" by special guests Tigirlily, the Detroit Lakes Noon Rotary Club led the charge, with six jumpers taking the leap in two shifts to celebrate the club's accomplishment of raising more than $6,000.
North Dakota State football alum Ben Ellefson, who was also a special guest at the event, took the prize for gathering the largest group to take the plunge, with 23 of his Bison buddies making increasingly acrobatic leaps into the 4.5-foot-deep ice hole.
Wearing a goat costume, with Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" blasting over the speakers, Detroit Lakes Newspapers' own Jim Brogren took the leap on his 56th birthday; the music choice was an homage to the birthday he shares with the late country music legend.
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Brogren raised a total of $2,751 to take the leap, making him one of the top individual fundraisers. At the very top was TikTok star "That Midwestern Mom," Amber Estenson, who raised more than $7,000 and filmed a special message for her followers after she took the plunge, asking if they could raise $10,000 if she did it again next year.
@thatmidwesternmom I did it 🤣🤣🤣 over 7 THOUSAND dollars raised for the boys and girls club! #minnesota #midwest #winter #polarplunge
♬ original sound - That Midwestern Mom
Patriotic costumes were a favorite among this year's jumpers, several of whom took the leap in honor of the military, while others did so in honor of "our friends in the Ukraine."
Celebrity guest judges, the Cboys, local YouTube sensations, ended the event in style, bringing out a customized four-wheeler equipped with a slide that was positioned to the side of the ice hole so they could make the jump down into the water. The song "Born in the USA" was blasting from the loudspeakers as they did so.
