Humboldt Bay High Jinks: The Perilous Plunge

Raise funds for local kidly programs and community good stuff.

IT'S TRUTH TIME... and we want to be fully and completely honest here. Now, if you know and love your Humboldt County, and you've attended an event or two over the years, perhaps the Kinetic Grand Championships in Ferndale or a Halloween party in Arcata or Eureka, then you know this: It doesn't take much to get a denizen of this marvelous, do-your-own-thing-and-do-it-loud county to dress up in wacky wear. People around these parts kind of stretch sartorial boundaries as a hobby, and they stretch 'em well. That's because not hiding your light, or waving your banner, or being 100% yourself, is at the heart of much of what makes Humboldt especially Humboldt-y. And it is what has given the NorCalian, Lost Coast-close, redwood-mysterious region its indomitable spirit of individuality, through and through. But here's a brain teaser for you: What if you were to ask a Humboldt County denizen to dress nuttily and jump in the bay, on the last day of February, which is very much still wintertime? Would they rise to the garishly fabulous, goosebump-inducing occasion?

OH PLEASE... You'd barely have to ask. Of course they would, and they'd love that it is for a good cause. Many a polar plunge, which this is -- the name is technically The Perilous Plunge, if you want to jot that down -- happens for a good cause, in the wintertime, but donning costumes is sometimes optional or not observed at all. (What tends to be observed: Stripping down to your barest skivvies, for maximum cold-water contact.) Feel like you want to put on your duck costume, the one with the tutu, and run into Humboldt Bay on Saturday, Feb. 28, and raise money for area kids and programs via The Discovery Museum? If you haven't done anything off-the-hook-y this year, and your resolved to liven up 2015, this is a plum chance. Plus you can let the good people of Humboldt County, those rare, true-to-themselves individual, give a colorful lesson in being an individual while coming together as a community. Well, coming together coldly, no doubt -- Humboldt Bay'll be a big brrrr. But won't you have fun, or at least great photos, and make some pals in the process.

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