BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Many people took advantage of the sun Saturday to take a dip in the lake.
The annual Penguin Plunge raises money for Special Olympics Vermont.
A few of familiar Channel 3 faces went for a swim.
A group with the Northern Vt. Baseball Umpire Association plunged to honor fellow umpire Mike Pixley who passed away in the fall.
‘Mike is here today and he’d be looking over us, and we always said make sure we don’t freeze our baseballs off,” Larry Riegert of Northern Vt. Baseball Umpire Association said.
The group says Mike was very involved with Special Olympics as a coach and volunteer.
“Mike was an umpire for many years, a top umpire, great guy, and as I said very much involved with Special Olympics so we thought this was an appropriate event to do in his honor,” Riegert said.
They rose close to $3,000 Special Olympics Vermont.
And 92-year-old team member Richard Thut decided to celebrate his birthday by plunging into the icy water too.
“This is the most foolish thing I’ve done in my life,” Thut said.
The event ran from 11-2 p.m. with some from our Channel 3 team taking a plunge as well.
Thousands of people joined the fun, including Vt. Treasurer Mike Pieciak, community sports teams and organizations, as well as families and individuals.
So far this year the teams who participated raised almost $341,000.