They couldn’t “bear” not doing it.
On Friday, annually, New Year’s Eve “polar bears” had been officially canceled on Friday, but that didn’t stop a couple of hundreds of renegade dead from undressing in bathing suits and taking the plunge.
“A lot of things I do every year are canceled: mermaid parade, baseball, everything we normally do is traditional,” said Chris Geiger, 45, who traveled from Glendale to jump to 50 degrees. Fahrenheit Atlantic.
“I said,‘ I don’t care. We will. It will be fast. We will be safe, ”Geiger said.
“It simply came to our notice then. It’s usually so crowded that you can’t even walk on the beach. That’s nice. This is much better than normal. “
The polar bear club Coney Island had announced in November that it would end the event due to coronavirus problems, so the 200 to 300 people who passed the pass were not allowed and violated city rules that prohibited swimming without lifesaving.
Still, they kept their social distance apart and scattered their fridge game in a few blocks and several hours.
“It was awesome,” Rachael Pollina, 39, of Ridgewood, told The Post.
“I think we knew we would do it anyway because we love it and honestly canceling it meant less than a crowd. So I think it’s safer.”
Typically, thousands of people pass by while thousands more watch, organizers said.
But on Friday, only about 200 spectators lined the boardwalk or went out on the sand to watch the reduced event.
Among them was a trio of NYPD agents, one of whom shrugged when asked about the apparent violation of swimming ban rules. When a Post reporter said, “Are people too old? Can’t you arrest everyone?” The policeman replied, “Exactly.”
On highlight Friday, the president of the Polar Bear Club, Dennis Thomas, was missing, saying he slept on the first day of New Year in 30 years.
“It’s a great New York tradition, started in 1903,” said Thomas, 65.
“And some people will continue no matter what happens,” he added. “But next year we’ll be bigger than ever.”
On a typical New Year’s Eve, more than 3,000 people will go swimming quickly while 10,000 more people watch, he said.
A 35-year-old Coney Island rapper named Gorilla Nems called the annual rite a “baptism.”
“Polar bears can’t officially do that because of the coronavirus, so we’re here to show that we’re strong in New York and, no matter what obstacles come our way, we overcome it. We will persevere because that is who we are. We are New Yorkers. “
A 21-year-old rapper from Flatbush, who passes by Danse, agreed.
“We have to leave 2020 behind. It’s been a tough year, but you know what it’s like: with the old, with the new,” he said.
“We are New Yorkers, we are back. And we owe it to those people who couldn’t get out here, some who died last year and were annual members, to come and do that. “
Emmett McElory, 19, of New Milford, New Jersey, would not let COVID interfere with an annual family tradition.
“This year is very different, there aren’t a lot of people,” he said. “But after what we’ve been through in 2020, we hope a better year starts better.”