Penguin Dip records official 46th event

Though it was officially cancelled as a public event for the second straight year due to the pandemic, a small group of die-hards gathered quietly at Ball’s Beach on Boxing Day for the 2021 Penguin Dip. 

It was a family affair of sorts, almost an extension of the Christmas gatherings for the Bjorgan, Quinn and Knox families. 

Perennial penguin Chris Bjorgan was there with his daughter Justine Nicholls. The mother of two had skipped a few years but was back for the fun last weekend. Chris Knox was there with his daughter Katelyn. At 21 years old, she was about to take the plunge for the very first time along with her friend, Shawn Kelly, 27.

Pat Quinn was back for another dip. He joked that he was the only penguin to arrive for the event with proper COVID protection, then proceeded to pull a scuba mask out from behind his back to prove it.  

Rounding out the group of eight were Sam Quinn and Owen Bjorgan, the last to show up for the 1 p.m. scheduled meeting time. Bjorgan, who writes a regular column for The NOTL Local, pushed this reporter to take the plunge in 2022. It’s one of the tricks of the job, by the way, to come up with creative yet believable excuses as to why one has to report on the news, and not necessarily be a direct part of it!

With no crowds there to watch and no heated trailer to retreat to between dips, the whole thing took less than 10 minutes. 

Chris Bjorgan, joking that he was wearing clothes from Costco because not a single piece of his outfit would absorb any water, led the group down to the beach. 

As they waded into the river, Katelyn was the first to submerge herself completely, come up for air and head back to shore, perhaps showing her inexperience. She then journeyed back in for her second dip while the others were still making their way back to shore. 

Her inexperience caught up with her when it was pointed out that to make it official, she was supposed to dip exactly three times with the group. She actually ended up going in four times. 

Kelly, wearing a Patrick Marleau Toronto Maple Leafs jersey, packed it in after his second dip, perhaps the only truly sane one in the bunch. The other seven all met the requirement to submerge three times to make it an official dip. 

For first-timer Katelyn, it was a big accomplishment, and she was happy to have taken part in a family ritual. 

“It wasn’t as bad as I thought, it wasn’t that cold,” she said as she towelled off at her car. “I felt pressure to do it, but just once is okay. I’m not sure whether I’ll do it again or not.”

If she doesn’t do it again, Katelyn will not be able to officially call herself a penguin. To become a member of the NOTL Penguin Club, she’ll have to repeat her accomplishment two more years. If she changes her mind eventually, though, those two years do not have to be consecutive.

The last year a public NOTL Penguin Dip event was held was 2019, when 20 people took to the water at Ball’s Beach. 

In 2020, plans to mark the 45th anniversary by making it a massive fundraiser for Red Roof Retreat were scuttled due to the pandemic. But Chris Bjorgan made his way down to the beach, joined by even fewer swimmers than this year, to keep his streak alive. 

Before the weekend dip, the two Chris’ reminisced a bit about previous years, when up to 70 hopeful penguins took the plunge some time in the mid-90s. They also tried unsuccessfully to remember the name of a woman who celebrated her 80th birthday by jumping into the river.

Lorne Bjorgan, Chris’ brother, was part of the first Penguin Dip, which started when he and three friends, Terry Ball, Rick Oswald and Leo McCarthy, were looking for a way to cool down after playing ball on Easter weekend. It was moved to Boxing Day as an official event the following year. 

Over the years Red Roof Retreat, started by Steffanie Bjorgan and her husband Moe, another of Chris’ brothers, was the recipient of funds raised by participants. Steffanie has done the dip, and was there this year but stayed on shore, cheering on her brother-in-law and her son.

When this reporter snuck away to avoid further speculation as to whether or not he might lose all sense of reason and join in one day in the future, he overheard the group deciding whether or not to head over to the Sandtrap Pub & Grill to celebrate their collective accomplishment. At least one of the penguins said he preferred heading home to sit by the fire to watch the Bills play the Patriots.