Bemidji Takes the Plunge to Raise Money at 1st Ever BRRRmidji Days

By Matthew Freeman

The Bemidji Jaycees held the first ever BRRRmidji Days over the weekend, which featured the 20th annual BRRRmidji Plunge. Community members jumped into the frozen waters of Lake Bemidji to raise money for a good cause.

Last weekend’s celebration features many different activities Bemidji has to offer in the winter, with the feature event being the 20th annual BRRRmidji Plunge. But first, the day started with the Frozen Ox 5K run, with many turning out from the community in one of the most mild winters in Minnesota’s history.

“This year, we’re probably at our largest amount, probably around 45 runners, said Jamie Anderson, recreation supervisor with Bemidji Parks and Recreation. “So people just love coming out and they love the challenge.”

“It’s awesome out today. Compared to other years, I’ve ran it when it was around ten below, and I just enjoy getting out and doing something in the winter,” said runner Andrea Nelson. “It kind of motivates me to have something to train for and to be active and kind of get through the colder parts of the year.”

With the Frozen Ox run complete, the next event to take place was the plunge. Many residents around the area didn’t know if this event would take place because of the mild winter, but that just brought in even more people to jump into the lake.

“I was a little worried, like the past couple of days with it being like 50 degrees in February, but it’s a little bit colder today, which is good for us, bad for the jumpers,” joked Darby Bersie, Bemidji State University Student Senate Vice President.

“Shockingly, we had already over 60 pre-registered, which is huge because a lot of our [registrants] come from the day of,” said BRRRmidji Plunge Chairman Brittany Isensee. “So we think because of that warm weather, it’s worked out and we’re going to have a really great event this year.

The warm weather, in fact, brought out over a hundred people to take part in the BRRRmidji Plunge, with 100% of the pledges being donated to Bemidji Special Olympics. Even in this warm weather, though, that water is still very close to freezing. So why do people come out and take the plunge?

“It’s just a way to get people out in our community in the dead of winter. We don’t have a lot of events going on in Bemidji,” explained Isensee. “So this is just a fun, fun activity. There’s actually a lot of health [benefits] to jumping in freezing cold water from time to time, apparently. So besides people just jumping for the donations and raising funds, they also just do it for fun.”

“So I like to challenge myself and I enjoy pushing my body to what it’s capable of,” said BRRRmidji Plunge participant Sean Crampton. “The fact that what we can do as humans is incredible. Getting outside that comfort zone, just really living in kind of that moment.”

The next event from the Bemidji Jaycees will be the annual Water Carnival around the 4th of July holiday.