Many mark the new year with ‘exhilarating’ polar dip in icy water

HALIFAX — Hundreds across Canada marked the start of the new year by gleefully plunging into frigid lake and ocean water, some for their first time.

Alejandra Lopez, who’s visiting Nova Scotia from Mexico, said she likes to do cold dips in a tub with ice water back home, but she’d never done a polar plunge.

“One of my resolutions was to do something different every month, and I started on the very first day (of 2026),” said Lopez, who took her outdoor polar dip in Dartmouth’s frozen Lake Banook alongside hundreds of other people Thursday.

She said the dip was a lot of fun and made for a great way to start the new year. As she entered the water, though, she said her “legs started burning.” She stayed calm and managed to stay in the water.

“I was really excited, and I’m so proud of us,” she said. She managed to convince her brother-in-law, Brian Summerhayes, from Dartmouth, N.S., to join her in the excitement.

“It was very, very cold. I don’t know if I’d do it again, but I can cross it off the bucket list,” Summerhayes said with a laugh.

He said while submerged in the icy water, he was thinking to himself: “Breathe. Breathe. What am I doing here? Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.”

Organizer Koko McNeill, who is part of the Darkside Dippers, a group that hosts regular polar dips in Dartmouth, said 550 people registered online to take part in Thursday’s dip. Many more came out to the beach to cheer on their loved ones and friends.

The organizers cut out a large rectangle of thick lake ice to make a pool area where dozens of dippers could submerge at a time.

Laurel Floyd from Ottawa was among the brave dippers, also taking the icy plunge for her first time.

She cheered as she waded into the icy lake with her daughter and son-in-law.

“It’s wonderful. There’s a great atmosphere, great comradery with all the people shivering in excitement, and them going in and screaming and having great fun,” Floyd said, noting her feet were really cold in the beginning.

“We had to stand there (on the ice) and wait a bit. But once you’re in, it’s refreshing. Then there’s a level of peace really,” she said.

In Toronto, hundreds gathered to plunge into the freezing depths of Lake Ontario in support of Boost, a child and youth advocacy centre.

The crowds warmed up with a dance party before stripping off their winter coats and running straight into the water to the sounds of screams and laughter.

Pardeep Singh Nagra, a plunge participant, said the dip into cold water was “a great way to start up a new year.” Donning boxing gloves and a championship belt, he said he took the dive for his fundraising team called “BoxSingh.”

“This is just a one-day cold for me, and for the young kids and youth that we’re supporting, their challenges are longer than a day,” said Nagra, who has polar-plunged more than 15 times.

“It’s a great turnout and this is what it’s about. You realize that people are willing to come out and make a difference for youth in our community.”

Friends Laura Kanas, Georgina Blanchard and Selina Whittaker held hands as they took the dip together for the cause. Kanas called the plunge an “invigorating” way to start 2026.

Braving the cold together represented their connection to one another, added Blanchard.

“Fresh start to the near year – friendships and fun,” said Blanchard.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 1, 2026.

— With files from Rianna Lim in Toronto.

Lyndsay Armstrong, The Canadian Press