Thousands take part in Vancouver-born tradition of New Year's Day Polar Bear Swim

One of Vancouver's favourite New Year's Day traditions — the annual Polar Bear Swim — was celebrated by thousands again on Wednesday, in an event that has now spread across the world.

Vancouver restaurant owner Peter Pantages started the tradition in 1920. More than a century later, thousands of people wearing costumes swam at beaches across the city on Wednesday to celebrate the start of 2025.

According to Lisa Pantages, Peter's granddaughter, her Greek immigrant grandfather always had a connection to the ocean and swam every day — which is why he decided to take the plunge with friends on New Year's Day in 1920.

"It was sponsored. My grandfather would have people back to his restaurant. Anybody who swam got a free hot meal afterwards," Lisa told Stephen Quinn, the host of CBC's The Early Edition.

"And then, as my grandfather became kind of a little bit iconic in his own [way], every day more and more world attention came to Vancouver to notice the swim," she added.

In Vancouver, outdoor temperatures hovered around 7 C when the city's official 105th annual polar bear swim kicked off at noon — a far cry from places like the Ness Lake Bible Camp in Prince George, B.C., where temperatures were around –13 C at the time attendees did their Polar Bear Dip.

Dave Horton, the director of the bible camp, said the swim brought people together as a group, unlike other cold plunges that he said can became about individual bragging rights or social media clout.

"These are things that gather people together, that pull people kind of out of ... the loneliness epidemic that exists and brings them into a shared experience," he said.

Pantages said many people have started to recognize the purported benefits of cold plunges, and that Vancouver's Polar Bear Swim has now become a bucket list item for people all over the world.

"What we lack in chill, we come forward with enthusiasm," Pantages said.