You can toe dip or dive in at Saturday’s La Crosse Polar Plunge, but we explored one more cheeky way to get involved

For 27 years, the La Crosse-area community has decided late February is a good time to jump into the river.

Of course, those people are swayed by the reasoning for that. Last year alone, jumping into the Black River raised over $100,000 for Special Olympics Wisconsin.

LA CROSSE POLAR PLUNGE
WHEN: 11 a.m. Saturday
WHERE: Black River Beach, La Crosse
WHY: Special Olympics Wisconsin fundraiser
REGISTER: $100 donation, including $25 registration here (or list below)

This year’s Polar Plunge is Saturday at the Black River Beach and Kat Craugh with the group says it’s going to be another “beautiful day” to jump into the freezing cold water.

On WIZM’s La Crosse Talk Craugh said Wednesday the anticipation of jumping into the water is worse than actually diving in.

“I think your adrenaline just kicks in and you run, high-five the dive team, and you’re out,” Craugh said Wednesday on La Crosse Talk. “You don’t even know how fast it goes.”

La Crosse Talk airs weekdays at 6-8 a.m. Listen on the WIZM app, online here, or on 92.3 FM / 1410 AM / 106.7 FM (north of Onalaska). Find all the podcasts here or subscribe to La Crosse Talk wherever you get your podcasts.

But, even if you don’t want to — or can’t — totally dive in, Craugh said they’ve carved out a way for everyone to participate.

“We’ve started the ‘toe dip’ to make it more inclusive for all of the athletes,” Craugh said. “Not everyone can plunge, for different medical reasons, so this way they can still put their foot in and say they plunged.”

On the show, though, we joked about another possible way to plunge. Let’s call it the “cheek dip,” where you just stick your butt in the water.

Kraugh laughed at the idea, but might have actually stumbled onto something with her response.

“That works, put them in like an innertube,” she said.

So, perhaps, next year, there will be the plunge, the toe dip and the cheek dip. This year, though, we just have two, and time’s running out to get involved.

Participants need to raise $100. The $25 registration fee counts toward that total.

People can register at these locations:

• 4-6 p.m. Thursday at the Culver’s by the mall
• 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Friday at the Black River Beach Neighborhood Center
• 8:30-10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Neighborhood Center before the plunge begins

There will also be shuttles going to and from John’s Bar, downtown and Neuie’s Vogue Bar & Grill on the north side from 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. for those who are pre-gaming the event.