Splash into the New Year at Three Tree Point Polar Bear Plunge

Photo from the 2022 Polar Bear Plunge by Jana Kleitsch
Burien’s annual Polar Bear Plunge will return to the south beach of Three Tree Point on Sunday, Jan. 1, 2023 at Noon, and all are invited.

This annual tradition is meant to help people splash into the New Year and cleanse themselves of negative thoughts, bad vibes, icky hangovers, or just to have a fun, silly start to 2023.

Each year, one costumed participant is chosen by secret judges and awarded the coveted Polar Bear Plunge trophy, which is basically a polar bear sculpture on a piece of local driftwood. Last year’s defending champ was local Blake Olsen, 13, who was dressed in a bright red Santa suit (HINT: a funny costume is great, but so is exuberance and humor…).

The event will be held at the south, public beach of Three Tree Point (map below) at Noon – snow, rain, clouds, wind chill, ice storm or sun – nothing stops us rugged Northwesterners!

TIPS/PRECAUTIONS
Precautions include wearing some kind of footwear to protect your soles from sharp rocks and shells, bringing big towels or blankets for afterwards, as well as plenty of courage, joy and your own support crew.

VIDEOS
Below is the raw, live stream video of last year’s plunge that we shared on The B-Town Blog’s Facebook page (be sure to “Like” us there to get a notification for when we go live)good :

The 2020 plunge (it was canceled in 2021):

And a POV shot showing Shawn Anderson take the 2018 plunge:

A good location to meet before and/or after is at the newly-reopened historic Three Tree Point Store, located at 16957 Maplewild Ave SW. More info here: https://www.threetreepoint.store.

Three Tree Point’s south beach is located at the intersection of Maplewild Ave SW and SW 172nd Street (be sure to get there early though as parking is limited):