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Six local bands of past and present play Kirby Center reunion show Dec. 30

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AAA: Average gas prices are up a few cents from last week

<p>ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) &#8212; More than a thousand people in Alaska dressed up as elves or in other elaborate costumes, while some stripped down to barely anything to take part in a polar plunge.</p><p>The fundraiser for Special Olympics Alaska took place Saturday at Goose Lake in Anchorage, where ice was cut from a large portion of the lake to allow the plungers room to do their favorite dive, like a cannonball. Other more timid plungers stepped into the frigid water, and others got a helping hand from fellow jumpers.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s cold,&#8221; said David Aromin, a recent transplant from Philadelphia who took part with others from LifeMed Alaska, an air ambulance service.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s for a great cause,&#8221; he said of why he spent his morning jumping into 32-degree water. &#8220;I&#8217;m new to Alaska, and this is one way to be baptized.&#8221;</p><p>Kat Bant of New York and Brittany Petrikos of Ohio said despite the frigid conditions, the jump &#8220;was lots of fun.&#8221;</p><p>Much like Aromin, neither Bant nor Petrikos are from Alaska and yearn for signature experiences of the nation&#8217;s northernmost state.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re not from here, so we wanted to do the Alaskan experience, and this is just a part of it,&#8221; Petrikos said.</p><p>The fundraiser brought in more than $300,000. It&#8217;s the eighth year for the event, which Special Olympics Alaska president Jim Balamaci said has raised a total of over $2 million. About 5,000 people have taken the plunge since the first event, and more than 50,000 people have donated, he said.</p><p>&#8220;People with intellectual disabilities sometimes are the most underserved, and when you have a thousand athletes coming out on one of the shortest days of the year, in the middle of winter, to jump into 32 degrees, to say, &#8216;You know what? We&#8217;re going to unite our communities, we&#8217;re going to accept everybody, and we&#8217;re going to do this all together,&#8217; it just warms my heart,&#8221; Balamaci said.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">More than a thousand Alaskans took part in a polar plunge fundraiser at Goose Lake, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2016,  in Anchorage, Alaska. The plunge was a benefit for Special Olympics Alaska, and has raised more than $2 million for the organization in the eight years it has been held. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_Polar-Plunge-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>More than a thousand Alaskans took part in a polar plunge fundraiser at Goose Lake, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2016,  in Anchorage, Alaska. The plunge was a benefit for Special Olympics Alaska, and has raised more than $2 million for the organization in the eight years it has been held. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By MARK THIESSEN</p><p>Associated Press</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><videoMeta><p><table class="mceItemTable" style="border:none;width:98%;"><tbody><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoID:</td><td id="videoid" style="width:50em;font-size:90%;">O0CHor06Nc0</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoType:</td><td id="videotype" style="font-size:90%;">YOUTUBE</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">URL:</td><td id="url" style="font-size:90%;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0CHor06Nc0&amp;utm_campaign=SocialFlow&amp;utm_source=Twitter&amp;utm_medium=AP</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Embed String:</td><td id="videoembedstring" style="font-size:90%;">&lt;iframe width=&#8221;560&#8221; height=&#8221;315&#8221; src=&#8221;https://www.youtube.com/embed/O0CHor06Nc0&#8221; frameborder=&#8221;0&#8221; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Caption:</td><td id="videocaption" style="font-size:90%;">More than a thousand people in Alaska braved the water temperature of 32 degrees to jump into Goose Lake on Saturday. The polar plunge was a benefit for Special Olympics Alaska, and was set to raise over $300,000 for the organization.</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Credit:</td><td id="videocredit" style="font-size:90%;">Associated Press</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Position:</td><td id="videoposition" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></p><p style="margin-top:10px;font-size:70%;color:#555;">(use the &#8220;for files&#8230;&#8221; link above to associate attached files with this source)</p></videoMeta></div>

Baptism by ice: Alaskans make annual plunge into frigid lake