Warm weather helps Yough River plungers endure cold water temperatures in Connellsville

Some newlyweds plan a honeymoon to an exotic location or a tourist destination chock full of romantic activities. That wasn’t the case for a Connellsville couple who tied the knot in their hometown on New Year’s Eve.

On their first full day of married life, Mary and Blaine Brooks took a different type of plunge Sunday — into the Youghiogheny River with about 300 or so brave souls as part of the 19th annual Connellsville Polar Bear Club Plunge at the city’s Yough River Park.

“It’s just a nice way to start out the New Year,” said Nancy Jacobyanski, a member of the Connellsville Polar Bear Club.

It was the 19th time that Blaine Brooks had done the plunge, but it was the first time for his bride, who wore her white wedding gown with a beautiful train into the 36-degree, brownish fast-moving water.

“Why not?” Mary Brooks said. “It’s something new for me.”

Her new husband had worn his tuxedo, now adorned with mud on the legs, into the water.

“It’s wasn’t bad at all,” Blaine Brooks said.

The couple has not forgotten about taking a honeymoon. It is just delayed until February, when they plan to take a short cruise to a warmer climate, Mary Brooks said.

Another veteran plunger, Scott Brownfield, 33, of Hopwood, was doing it on New Year’s Day for the fourth time.

“It’s just a tradition,” said Brownfield, who held his 5-year-old son, Xander, wrapped in a towel after going into the water up to his ankles for the first time.

One plunger who was not content to just walk into the river but went underwater was Kourtney Callahan, 13, of Connellsville.

“It was cold,” a shivering Callahan said as she got a towel. She went into the water with her friend, Olivia King, 13, of Connellsville.

Olivia’s mother, Kathy King, supplied the dry towels for the girls.

“Somebody has to stay warm and drive them home,” Kathy King said.

The warm weather — with air temperatures in the 40s — likely contributed to the good turnout for the plunge.

“It was great. We’re really happy with (the turnout),” said Mike Parlak, one of the founders of the Connellsville Polar Bear Club.

A registration sheet had the signatures of 176 people who said they were taking the plunge for the first time.

As people ran into the river, there were chunks of ice floating downstream, and remnants of a thicker ice were piled up along the shoreline. Connellsville’s New Haven Hose Company fire Chief Jeff Layton said the recent warm weather and rain broke up some of the ice that had piled up along the river.

The fun for all the plungers who took a dip in the river benefited the Connellsville Area Community Ministries Food Bank. The price of admission to the dipping area was a nonperishable food item.

“There’s a lot of bad in the world, and this is a nice way to do something good with your neighbors,” said Carol Kosslow of Connellsville.

To keep the dippers safe, New Haven Hose Company had its river rescue boat in the water, and four members of its water rescue team stood guarding a perimeter to make certain no one wandered out so far that they were in danger of getting swept away in the swift current at the middle of the river.