2025 New Year’s Day Plunge
Coney Island Polar Bear Club’s annual New Year’s Day Plunge took place on Wednesday, January 1, 2025 at Coney Island in Brooklyn, NY. Thousands of people submerged themselves into the water on New Year’s Day for hours. I arrived to the beach around noon (it officially started at 11AM) and came across people dancing on the boardwalk before I continued to the beach. Once I got to the water, there were lots of participants running into the Atlantic Ocean with friends and family either joining them or supporting them from the sand, while spectators remained further away from the water and dry. Thanks to the somewhat warm weather (it was just under 50 degrees Fahrenheit and a bit windy), there was a pretty large turnout at the beach and boardwalk.
Photos from the plunge yesterday can be found in the above gallery, which was shot both digitally and on film. This was my first time documenting the yearly event since January 1, 2020, and I loved every minute of my time there.