{"id":87646,"date":"2026-01-02T21:17:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T21:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/87646\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T21:17:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T21:17:09","slug":"brooklynites-dive-into-2026-at-frigid-coney-island-polar-bear-plunge-brooklyn-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/87646\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooklynites dive into 2026 at frigid Coney Island Polar Bear Plunge \u2022 Brooklyn Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"

The new year arrived windy and freezing in Brooklyn, but bone-chilling weather couldn\u2019t stop tradition as thousands of people welcomed 2026 at the Coney Island Polar Bear Plunge.<\/p>\n

After a few years of warm weather, New Year\u2019s Day this year was bracing. When the plunge began at 11 a.m., temperatures hovered around 25 degrees Fahrenheit \u2014 with wind chill in the teens \u2014 and the Atlantic Ocean was a near-Arctic 39 degrees.<\/p>\n

While the crowd was a little smaller than in past years, around 5,000 people took the Plunge, said Coney Island Polar Bear Club president Jarred Lustgarden, and the energy was \u201celectric.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"coneyAround 5,000 people participated in the plunge despite frigid temps. Photo by Erica Price \"peopleParticipants were more committed this year because of the extreme weather, said Coney Island Polar Bear Club president Jarred Lustgarden. Photo by Erica Price<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved the energy this year because people were really committed because of the cold weather,\u201d he said.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

They were committed to a fresh start, too.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people had a rough 2025, and they couldn\u2019t wait to wash that off,\u201d Lustgarden said. \u201cI heard that more than anything else. \u20182025 was the worst because of A, B, C \u2026 and I just need this.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was lifelong Brooklynite Adrienne Lerner\u2019s third time taking the plunge with friends.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI started doing it as something to start the year by doing something a little brave, and setting a tone for a new year that way,\u201d she said. \u201cA little strength, a little bravery, take a risk. That\u2019s how it started.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"womanBrooklynite Adrienne Lerner donned a fairy costume for this year\u2019s swim. Photo by Erica Price<\/p>\n

Everyone at the plunge is there to start the year on a positive note, Lerner said, and to support each other, and the excitement is palpable. Some swimmers dress up in ostentatious costumes, and Lerner has joined in, this year donning wings and a head dress as a fairy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year\u2019s costume was kind of inspired by yin and yang. I dressed as a white fairy, my friend was dressed as a black fairy,\u201d she said. \u201cThe thought was just how there\u2019s two sides to everything \u2026 there\u2019s always light with dark and dark with light.\u201d<\/p>\n

The winds helped out, Lerner laughed, keeping her wings flapping the whole time she stood on the beach.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\"\"A costumed swimmer joins thousands of participants in the Coney Island Polar Bear Plunge.File photo by Erica Price \"crowdThe crowd was buzzing with excitement and support.Photo by Erica Price<\/p>\n

Sean Sweeney, a Staten Island resident, has been plunging for nearly 30 years, he said. He\u2019s only missed it once in that time \u2014 New Year\u2019s Day 2000, when he celebrated the centennial in Disney World.<\/p>\n

For Sweeney, the Polar Plunge can be bittersweet. After he and his friends decided to participate for the first time, one friend was hit by a drunk driver and lost both of his legs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI said to myself, being able bodied, how can I say no to this?\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the kind of thing that really makes you remember that you\u2019re alive, and that you\u2019re capable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Decades later, the swim has taken on more meaning.
\n\"seanSean Sweeney (right) has been taking part in the plunge for almost 30 years.Photo by Erica Price\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt reminds me of the people we lost in 9\/11, it reminds me of the people we lost during COVID,\u201d Sweeney said. \u201cAs you go through life, there are reasons that surface that cause me to go in again. I always say if it\u2019s the worst I feel all year, I\u2019m way ahead of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, the event is more celebratory than it is melancholy. Over the decades, Sweeney has been joined by an array of friends and family, many taking the plunge for the first time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll always say, it\u2019s the most New York thing ever,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the diversity, it\u2019s the camaraderie, it\u2019s the friendship. You see some people who will learn that either they\u2019ll never do this again, or learn how to do it. Because year upon year, you get better at it, you get smarter at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"swimmersThe plunge is \u201cthe most New York thing ever,\u201d Sweeney said. Photo by Erica Price \"manParticipants were united by shockingly cold water.Photo by Erica Price<\/p>\n

Sweeney\u2019s decades of experience let him truly appreciate just how cold it was this year. Jan. 1, 2026 was one of his \u201ctop three coldest,\u201d he said.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI have gone in when there\u2019s been eight inches of snow on the beach, and yesterday was colder,\u201d he said. \u201cThat wind was biting.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

In 2025<\/a>, when it was about 50 degrees out, Lerner said she ran in and out of the water several times. This year, diving in \u201cfelt like a moment like when the Titanic went down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her only strategy was to wait to enter the water until she was ready to leave the beach. Hanging out to talk and enjoy the energy after the swim was not an option.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you went in and you came out and your body hit the air, you had to go,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was too painful. I think the harder one was when we got back to dry off, I couldn\u2019t feel my toes for a good five or ten minutes. I literally could not move them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"swimmerBrooklynites made the most of the first day of the new year, weather and all. Photo by Erica Price \"peopleGetting dry and dressed proved a challenge for those with numb fingers and toes. Photo by Erica Price<\/p>\n

As Lerner, Sweeney and the other swimmers defrosted their extremities, Lustgarden and the Polar Bears were tallying up donations. The Coney Island Polar Bear Plunge is free, but everyone is encouraged to donate, and the proceeds are distributed to various community groups in the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

By New Year\u2019s morning, they had already raised almost $80,000<\/a>, Lustgarden said. It will take some time for the full tally to come in, but by the end of the day, people had donated almost $140,000.<\/p>\n

Coney Island is \u201cone of the last real Brooklyn neighborhoods,\u201d Lustgarden said, and raising money<\/a> for orgs like the Coney Island library, the New York Aquarium and Coney Island USA feels good.<\/p>\n

\"womanLady Liberty stood tall beside the pier. Photo by Erica Price \"manOne swimmer channeled the heat as a boiling crab. Photo by Erica Price<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a real neighborhood with real people who need real resources,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to be impactful for that.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Both Sweeney and Lerner encouraged their fellow New Yorkers to give the Plunge a try \u2014 whether it\u2019s to dip a toe or go all in, Sweeney said.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe message for the year is just, if you have enough confidence in yourself you can accomplish anything,\u201d Lerner said. \u201cIt was a lot of mental toughness, particularly yesterday because of the cold. I know many people backed out, so making the decision to shoe up for yourself, and then just to believe that you can do something and achieve it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Erica Price<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The new year arrived windy and freezing in Brooklyn, but bone-chilling weather couldn\u2019t stop tradition as thousands of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87647,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[6879,42193,2571,14474,98,100,99,40387,119,31092,31093,31094,14480,42194,11985,3088,42195,19709,34715,31095,9,24,12,370,63,12561,42196,9356,20808],"class_list":["post-87646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-6879","tag-adrienne-lerner","tag-arts-and-entertainment","tag-beach","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-cold-weather","tag-coney-island","tag-coney-island-polar-bear-club","tag-coney-island-polar-bear-plunge","tag-coney-island-polar-plunge","tag-coney-island-usa","tag-freezing","tag-fun","tag-fundraising","tag-jarred-lustgarden","tag-library","tag-new-year","tag-new-years-day","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-newsletter","tag-nyc","tag-ocean","tag-polar-plunge","tag-sean-sweeney","tag-temperatures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}