January 1, 1939 Polar Bear Swim
Being an Aussie, I really don’t get the appeal of plunging into frigid salty water, but I do love the history behind the Polar Bear Swim.
Today marks the 92nd anniversary of the New Year’s Day swim, which Peter Pantages kicked off on January 1, 1920, about a year after he’d arrived in Vancouver from Greece.
Peter started work as an usher at his cousin Alexander’s Pantages Theatre on Hastings Street. By 1929 he was running the Peter Pan Café on Granville with his three brothers Lloyd, Angelo and Alphonsos.
Peter Pantages December 15, 1927
Known to swim in English Bay three times a day, every day, Peter wanted everyone to know that it was possible to swim every day of the year in Vancouver. The story goes that he invited a handful of mates over for a New Year’s drink and talked them into taking the plunge into the waters of English Bay. That event kicked off the Polar Bear Club. Under the constitution of the club, anyone who wanted to be president had to go swimming every day—no freezing rain, snow or sickness excused.
The Swim attracted 2,246 participants last year–its biggest yet.
Peter died in Hawaii in 1971; he’d been swimming, of course.
The Pantages lived here from 1925 to the 1970s
The house where he and wife Helen brought up four children is still there at 343 East 13th Avenue, Vancouver.
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