Bemidji Jaycees’ 21st Annual BRRRmidji Plunge Raises Funds for Special Olympics

Despite the cold temperatures over the weekend, many still gathered Saturday on Lake Bemidji for the Bemidji Jaycees’ 21st annual BRRRmidji Plunge. The event kicked off this year’s BRRRmidji Days.

“One of the hardest things I had done in my life,” said this year’s oldest jumper, Mo Ribeiro de Oliveria. “One was climb Mount Rainier in Washington. Second was a stage mountain bike race, [a seven-day] race. I think this is the third [hardest thing], by far.”

With a laugh, he added, “I’m glad that was short-lived.”

The weather on Saturday itself was no laughing matter, with wind chills making temperatures feel like they were below zero, but a brave few decided to take on the extreme conditions on Lake Bemidji.

“We had a total of 60 jumpers, as young as 12 years old and as old as 68,” said BRRRmidji Days Chairman Brittany Isensee. “It’s definitely heartwarming. Again, this is one of the coldest events in Bemidji, you won’t see a lot of people signing up for that. So yeah, it just makes us so happy when we see everybody coming together for a great cause.”

Over the past 21 years, the plunge has raised money for different charitable organizations such as food banks and women’s shelters. For the past two years, it’s supported Special Olympics Minnesota.

“We’ll see how much money we raise after the fact here,” added Isensee. “I’m hoping it’s just as much. We broke records last year with the $8,000 that went to the Special Olympics, so I sure hope we did that, if not more.”

And even though the money raised will stay local, people traveled from well outside the Bemidji community to show their support.

“I live in California but I feel like I’m a part of the Bemidji community,” said Ribeiro de Oliveira.

“There’s got to be close to 100 people that come down just to watch, too, along with jump-ins,” said former Bemidji Jaycees President Missy Malone. ” So just to see everyone together in the middle of winter when it’s freezing outside and still get together for a great event, it’s wonderful to see.”

The Plunge was the first event of this year’s BRRRmidji Days. The rest of the Jaycees’ events will continue this week, ending on Saturday with the Bash Ice Fishing Derby. A schedule of events can be found on the Bemidji Jaycees website.