In the Spring of 2008, we added an inground swimming pool to the backyard — just in time for it to host a birthday party for our youngest daughter.
Since then, the pool has hosted dozens of parties: Birthday parties, Farewell parties, Mother’s Day parties, Baseball parties, Church parties, Retirement parties, Choir parties, Father’s Day parties, Labor Day parties, Fourth of July parties, Halloween parties, Surprise parties, and Graduation parties.
The pool is serving its purpose well: Hosting wonderful parties and creating wonderful memories.
When building our pool, we knew it would serve as a natural host for parties like those mentioned above. But the wife and I also knew we wanted the pool to host an annual pool party. Not just any annual pool party. An annual pool party with a theme unique to the city of San Antonio, Texas — a city whose average temperature during the summer months is 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Herein is where the idea of the Lucas Polar Bear Dive party was born. The annual Lucas Polar Bear Dive party celebrates the coldest day ever in San Antonio, Texas, January 31, 1949, when the official recorded temperature was 0 degrees Fahrenheit.
The first annual Lucas Polar Bear Dive party occurred on January 30, 2009. Lucas Polar Bear Dive parties occur on the Friday- or Saturday-night closest to January 31. Every year since 2009 with the exceptions of the years 2016, 2021, and 2022; a total of 157 polar bears have swum for 20 minutes in the icy waters of the pool — having temperatures as low as 49 degrees Fahrenheit, while 1160 friends, family, and sadists have watched on.
The Lucas Polar Bear Dive party is by invitation only. Invitees are required to respond to their invitations in one of three ways:
1. Yes! I will be there, and I will be Polar Bear diving! (aka., I am a masochist!)
2. Yes! I will be there, and I will enjoy watching crazy people in your pool in January! (aka., I am a sadist!)
3. No, I will not be there. (aka., I am a loser.)
If invitees do not respond to their invitations, then response #3 is assumed.
Attendees of the Lucas Polar Bear Dive party generally bring crockpots of their favorite chili or soups to share. And prizes are given for the best chili and soups.
In addition to bringing their appetites and crockpots of chili or soup, attendees also bring ice. And yes, prizes are given for the most ice brought.
How much ice do people bring to Lucas Polar Bear Dive parties?
The answer to this question is a measure of an attendee’s personality. The amount of ice an attendee brings is directly related to how much of a masochist or sadist the attendee is. Although they may not be going in the pool, the ice the attendee brings, will be. So, how much ice an attendee brings is directly correlated with how much they will be making themselves (masochist) or others (sadist) suffer.
To get a feel for how much ice is brought to Lucas Polar Bear Dive parties, the 2023 party had over 2000 pounds of ice put into the pool — and included two 200-pound blocks of ice.
Lucas Polar Bear Dive parties begin at 6:30 pm. The parties last until attendees leave or are kicked off the premises. The last attendees to leave the 2023 Lucas Polar Bear Dive party did so at 3 am.
Lucas Polar Bear Dive parties are family-friendly and include a polar cub dive in the hot tub from 6:30 pm to 7:45 pm.
Potential polar bears sign-in from 6:30 pm to about 7:45 pm. In addition to their legal names, potential polar bears include their polar bear names and their polar bear land-counterpart’s names. From outside the pool, the polar bear land-counterpart watches the potential polar bear while they are swimming; if the potential polar bear drowns, it’s the polar bear land-counterpart’s responsibility to remove the potential polar bear from the pool.
All potential polar bears begin lining-up and standing around the pool by 7:45 pm.
The Polar Bear Dive ceremony begins at 7:45 pm with the arrival of King Polar Bear. No one can dive without participating in the Polar Bear Dive ceremony.
Upon the arrival of King Polar Bear, he announces, “Let the POLAR BEAR DIVE ceremony begin!”
He then asks the potential polar bears to introduce themselves:
“My POLAR BEAR name is…”
“The person that may be taking my lifeless body out of the pool is…”
“I am diving as a POLAR BEAR because…”
“Here is my best POLAR BEAR growl…”
After the potential polar bears’ introductions, in unison, and by the king polar bear’s prompting, they state aloud the POLAR BEAR CREED:
King Polar Bear (KPB): “I polar bear dive not for fame — not for fortune — not for curing any disease…”
POTENTIAL POLAR BEAR (PPB): “I DIVE FOR MY NAME GETTING ON A PLAQUE IN THE LUCAS’ BACKYARD FOR ALL ETERNITY TO SEE OR UNTIL THE BANK TAKES THE LUCAS’ HOUSE!”
KPB: “Having a choice between masochism and sadism…”
PPB: “I CHOOSE MASOCHISM — EVEN THOUGH I PROBABLY DON’T KNOW WHAT THE WORD MEANS!”
KPB: “Twenty minutes is about to feel like…
PPB: “TWENTY HOURS!”
KPB: “Lastly, and most importantly…”
PPB: “IF I DROWN OR HAVE BODILY HARM OR BECOME AN ICICLE BECAUSE OF THIS DAMN POLAR BEAR DIVE — I WILL NOT SUE DON — OR LISA — OR THEIR CHILDREN!”
After the polar bear creed is read aloud, the sadist attendees (i.e., anyone at the party not diving) — ceremoniously each pour one cup of ice cubes into the pool, an official pool water temperature and air temperature is then taken, and the official timer begins a countdown from 10 seconds to diving.
The Polar Bear Dive occurs EXACTLY from 8 pm to 8:20 pm.
The Polar Bear Dive is a come-as-you-are dive which means potential polar bears can be wearing nothing or anything — as long as the anything is not made out of rubber. (However, see Charlotte J’s 2019 “senior rubber decree.”)
While being in the water for 20 minutes, potential polar bears must perform a variety of tasks — these tasks are only known to actual polar bears.
Everybody who performs the tasks and stays in the pool for the entire 20 minutes (and is alive) gains no fortune but does gain fame. Their name is put on a plaque that forever hangs near the pool or it will hang until the Lucases die or it will hang until the bank takes the Lucas’ home (likely on the same day).
For every 100 Lucas Polar Bear Dive party attendees about 15 of them will attempt the polar bear dive and about 10 of those attempting the dive will become actual polar bears.
Signed,
King Polar Bear and an Actual Polar Bear in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2023.
…
Dr. Don Lucas, Ph.D. is a Professor of Psychology and head of the Psychology Department at Northwest Vista College in San Antonio Texas. He loves psychology, teaching, and research.
If you like this story, then you may like Don’s videos on his YouTube channel, 5MIweekly or his other stories on his Medium site.
Polar Bears, Swimming Pool, Party, Ice Bath, Exercise, Happiness
