Pottstown’s 2023 Polar Bear Plunge at Riverfront Park drew a record number of participants willing to get the year off to a bracing start. But as Evan Brandt noted in The Reporter, the air temp was at least moderately comfortable, even if the water was not.

More than 150 brave souls stripped down, dressed up, or combined both approaches to enter the water near Montgomery County Community College’s Pottstown campus.

Among those donning an outfit was Greg Lanaker of Pottstown. He wore a Viking hat and beard combo made of braided yarn. He cited its source as “… Amazon, where you can get anything.”

For Borough Councilwoman Lisa Vanni, the 2023 Polar Bear Plunge represented her third time in the water — a trifecta — on New Year’s Day.

“I think it was easier this year,” she said. “The conditions were absolutely perfect.”

Ensuring that the dedicated dippers were safe, dive teams Friendship 77 (Phoenixville) and Telford Dive and Rescue were on hand, monitoring the conditions and those who braved them.

More on Pottstown’s 2023 Polar Bear Plunge is at The Reporter.

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The 2017 edition of the Pottstown Polar Bear Plunge had similarly good weather as this year’s edition|
but seemed to require a commitment more to brave the mud than the water temperature.