‘Frosty Frolic’ on the Mon benefits California students
Sierra Wagner, an Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority member at California University, quickly gets out of the water with assistance from a river rescue volunteer at the Frosty Frolic event in Coal Center Saturday.
Robert Nicholson, dressed as the comic book character Harley Quinn, with his team “Chillin’ Villian” jump into the Monongahela River Saturday. California Area School District Foundation sponsored the event, which raised money for scholarships and grants.
COAL CENTER – If the urge to leap into a river on a winter’s day ever takes hold, Walter MacFann has some advice: Wear the least amount of clothing that you possibly can.
“The cold clothing sticks to you and you can’t get it off fast enough,” MacFann said.
And he should know. A veteran of participating in Polar Plunge events that benefit the Special Olympics, MacFann was in Coal Center early Saturday afternoon, ready to jump into the Monongahela River as part of the “Frosty Frolic” sponsored by the California Area School District Foundation.
MacFann was one of 56 people ranging in ages from 10 to 63 who took the briefest of dips in the Mon. The conditions for the plunge were, all things considered, not too bad – the water temperature matched the air temperature at about 40 degrees, though a southwest wind clocking at roughly 15 miles per hour made getting out of the water bracing, to say the least. But, as foundation trustee Lisa Buday noted, none of the participants were facing Arctic blasts that would have forced the fun inside.
“Sunny is good,” she said.
Three community teams, one high school team and a college team participated, with the plunge preceded by a costume contest. The winners were the “Chillin’ Villians,” all of whom were decked out like evildoers from movies and comic books.
The costume contest completed, the teams each jumped into the Mon from a dock to the strains of Van Halen’s “Jump.” Most participants lingered in the water for just about five seconds.
“It was very shocking,” said Dylan Beckowitz, a junior at California Area High School, as he was drying himself off.
This was the third year the foundation sponsored the Frosty Frolic. The estimated $5,000 raised by the event will go toward scholarships, grants and other kinds of support for students and teachers in the California Area School District.
“It goes back to the students,” Beckowitz explained. “And that’s why I jumped.”