Renewing a New Year's Day tradition of jumping into Lake Minnetonka… no matter what

Diving into Lake Minnetonka on New Years Day 2019
Photo credit Entercom

They jumped into Lake Minnetonka on New Year's Day... again.  

On January 1 of every year since 1990, the Ice Dive has taken place, and they're expecting to have nearly five-hundred people wearing all sorts of swim wear to take the plunge off the shore in Excelsior.  

It's all staged by ALARC and led by Bill Wenmark, who told Dave Lee on the WCCO Morning News that the idea is to not think before you jump

"I'm going to walk to the edge, and I'm going to have the same thought I've had for 29 years... what in the you-know-what and I doing here," he said, with a laugh.

"Because I know how it will feel, I just take it," Wenmark said. "You jump in, and you get it done, it's 15 seconds. But you don't think about it."

With Tuesday's real temperature hovering around zero, it's about 15 degrees warmer than last year's Ice Dive.  

Proceeds raised go to charity, including the Wounded Warrior Project and the police and fire departments of Excelsior.