10%

Puddle Jump 2024

Enjoy this immersive (but not submersive!) photographic coverage of the Puddle Jump and consider historical quotes and insights about our enduring enchantment with jumping into icy cold water.

By Bates College

February 16^th, 2024

Thanks Guv!

A tradition since 1975, this year’s Puddle Jump, held on Feb. 9, 2024, actually had its start hours earlier, up in Augusta, when Maine Gov. Janet Mills stepped outside the Maine State House to continue a long tradition by lighting a ceremonial torch to celebrate Winter Carnival.

Once lit, the torch made its way to Lewiston, 30 miles south, to light a bonfire along the Lake Andrews shore, kicking off the Puddle Jump.

Connor Gerraughty ’26 of Hartsdale, N.Y., poses with the Winter Carnival torch outside the Maine State House in Augusta before Maine Gov. Janet Mills arrived to light the torch on Feb. 9, 2024

1937: Fixing a Hole Where the Ice Is

“They didn’t object to swimming in zero weather, but they did object to entering through a hole in the ice.”

— The Kansas City Times, Dec. 31, 1937, on some members of a winter swim club refusing to enter the water through a hole in the rarely iced-over Lake Lotawana

Lighting the Bonfire

This year, the final leg was run by a special guest: Jon Lee, husband of Bates President Garry W. Jenkins and an avid runner.

The students in the Bates Outing Club and Running Club, who run the traditional route from Augusta to campus after the torch lighting, invited Lee to run the final leg, knowing how much he loves to run.

1958: Dip with a Friend

“We both like the water and feel that cold swims are very healthful. It’s very invigorating and makes you feel good all over.”

— Margaret Wiche, in Newsday, Jan. 2, 1958, on taking her New Year’s Day swim with friend and neighbor Dorothy Ayling

1914: There's No Quit

“I will never forget the sensation when I first went in the water. I wanted to climb right out, but I looked to one side and saw Mrs. Schute swimming, and I decided not to be a quitter.”

— Anna Zerbe, in the Spokesman-Review, Jan. 8, 1914, on the dare that led to a winter swim in Hayden Lake in Spokane, Wash., with her friend

1928: Suits Her

“I would advise everyone to go outside in their bathing suits during the winter months. They will find it healthful and enjoyable.”

— Henrietta Kraker of Long Prairie, Minn., in the Minneapolis Journal, Feb. 19, 1928, on her passion for winter sports outdoors while wearing a bathing suit

1923: Hardy Har Har

“The first shock of the ice-cold water was awful. But soon I loved it. My doctor said that he didn’t see how winter swimming could make anybody hardy, since you would have to be hardy to do it in the first place.”

— Elizabeth Berlo, matriarch of the early 1900s Berlo Sisters swim act, in The Detroit Free Press, July 8, 1923

1896: Feeling Needy

“At first, when I struck the water, I felt a sort of electric shock, needles pricking into me and all that sort of thing, but it was soon over and all the rest was easy.”

—William Sickles of Setauket, N.Y., in The Racine (Wis.) Daily Journal, March 14, 1896, explaining his quarter-mile swim across Setauket Lake to win a $60 bet.

1905: Cold Comfort

“Visitors were treated to a rather unusual sight in the form of a sailor taking a swim in the cold, icy water. His feat attracted a tremendous crowd about the sea wall, and in reply to the shouts of the people, [he] declared that the water was not cold.”