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Whitewater's Freeze Fest is Saturday

WHITEWATER — Fun and frozen often don’t mix.

But Freeze Fest, the annual celebration of winter in Whitewater, proves you can have ball in below-freezing temperatures.

The event runs all day Saturday in downtown Whitewater and features a pancake breakfast, horse-drawn wagon rides, ice skating, a chili cook-off and the third annual Polar Plunge to benefit Special Olympics.

Michelle Dujardin, recreation and community events programmer for the Whitewater Parks and Recreation Department, said families can partake in events outside or under heated tents.

“People get cabin fever in the winter,” she said, “and we wanted to offer a lot of different things to get them out and about downtown.”

The chili cook-off has been a popular event for years, but interest has spiked this year. More than a dozen people are slated to cook large batches of chili for visitors to sample for a small donation.

The Polar Plunge, in which brave swimmers dip into the chilly waters of Cravath Lake to raise money for Special Olympics, has helped the annual festival grow.

“It’s really worked well,” Dujardin said. “It’s going toward a great cause … and it brings the students and the community together.”

UW-Whitewater students along with high school sports teams, local businesses and others all come out—often dressed in silly costumes—to support the cause. More than 200 people already have registered for the plunge, and organizers expect more to sign up hours before the event.

“I think it’s made the whole event a lot bigger and more important,” Dujardin said of the plunge. “It’s that extra thing. It’s something you don’t always see.”