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Brave souls take frigid plunge in New Year's Day tradition

A frigid New Year's Day tradition in the small town of Cumberland Gap had people diving right into 2016 on Friday afternoon.

A frigid New Year's Day tradition had people diving right into 2016.

WBIR 10News reporter Becca Habegger paints a poetic picture of the scene, as more than 100 people gathered at noon Friday in the small town of Cumberland Gap, which is nestled in Claiborne County, where Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia meet.

(CUMBERLAND GAP) Something was brewing in this one-stoplight town that caused quite a crowd to gather around.

It's the annual Polar Bear Dip jamboree that draws them to Cumberland Gap, Tennessee.

Freezing and wet, plungers flopped like a flounder - in costumes as colorful as this event's founder.

Judge Ralph McClanahan started this show just for fun, 15 years ago.

"Nothing goes on, on January the first at twelve o'clock noon," McClanahan told the crowd. "That's our time to have a good time in the Polar Bear Dip."

This word-of-mouth event isn't streamed online, though its organizers have put up a permanent sign.

"We don't advertise," McClanahan said. "I mean, we've got one little form of advertising on a message board over there in Middlesboro, but it's pretty much unadvertised. It's just kind of growing on its own."

Friday marked siblings Jack and Kennedy Yoakum's first-ever dips. You could tell by their shivers and quivering lips.

Meanwhile, spectators on shore thought it was just grand to watch, bundled up, warm and dry - on land.

"We just love watching people jump in. It's just great!" supporter Beth Marsee said. "It's a real positive thing for people to come to and just enjoy."

"In the cold water, we love it," her mother Betsy Marsee chimed in. "They're crazy!"

Silly and fun it appears on the surface, but beneath lies a deeper, more welcoming purpose.

The town's first couple - mayor and wife - said the Polar Bear Dip, to this place, brings life.

"Ralph started this with just a few friends, and it's grown into what you saw today," Mayor Bill McGaffee said.

"We enjoy the people being here, and everyone seems to love it," Linda McGaffee said. "We're really proud of our little town."

"Tourism-wise, when they built the tunnel, it bypassed our town," Mr. McGaffee said, describing the Cumberland Gap Tunnel that opened in 1996 and cuts under Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, connecting Tennessee and Kentucky.

"We used to get a lot of traffic down through, but (the tunnel) bypassed it, and things like (the Polar Bear Dip) bring people back," the mayor said.

What brings people back to plunge, year after year? Maybe it's something in the water here.

"I kind of consider this to be basically my baptism for every year," regular dipper David Nevels told 10News, immediately after completing his 14th year of participating in the plunge. "It's kind of almost religious but not really. It's kind of important. It's just one of those things I want to do."

To call this a baptism is not far from true; Wash off the old year – emerge cold and new.

"It was like being in an iceberg," a soaking-wet 10-year-old Jack Yoakum said, with a wide grin and chattering teeth.

So come out next year! Dive in if you choose. Who knows-- you might even appear in the news.

CODA

The air temperature at noon in Cumberland Gap was 51 degrees, and the water was not quite 50 degrees.

Altogether, 31 brave souls took the plunge this year.

Mayor McGaffee said the creek conditions were perfect.

"If it'd been a couple of weeks ago when we had a lot of rain, it would've been very swift. It would've been dangerous, but it worked out fine today," he said.

A sign along the creek, where dippers were plunging, listed the depth at 29 inches, or nearly 2.5 feet.

The event is held outside Cumberland Gap's Little Congress Bicycle Museum, which McClanahan owns and curates.

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