Taking a dip for the island's young readers
BY STEVE SHEPPARD
Some people say it is exhilarating, other people say it is downright cold, but when you are jumping into the ocean in late November for the island's children it makes perfect sense.

The bold, the brave and the cold taking the plunge on Thanksgiving morning last year.

Especially if you are dressed like a turkey.

Barbara Keane Clarke remembers when she saw her first swimming turkey - it was on Thanksgiving morning 2002 at the first Nantucket Turkey Plunge. "Out of the corner of my eye I caught a turkey running by. It was Santjes Oomen who had made the costume herself, and it was really good. She started the people wearing costumes."

Since then, Clarke has seen more turkeys, and even some guys wearing their mothers' bathing suits. She has heard that hospital workers this year are going to show up wearing scrubs, and that members of the Dolphins swim team will also join in. This year it is "Take the Dive for Year Five," for the fifth annual Thanksgiving Day Turkey Plunge.

The popular event benefits the Weezie Library of the Nantucket Atheneum, and all monies raised are used exclusively for children's programming - including reading programs, literacy programs, movie nights and the many other offerings the library provides young readers and their families. In the last two years plungers have raised between $45,000 and $50,000 each Thanksgiving, much of that through donations pledged to the hearty swimmers who brave the elements and jump into the ocean at Children's Beach.

"Some people raise up to $3,000," Clarke notes. "One child raised $800 last year."

Clarke brought the idea for the Turkey Plunge to Nantucket from her native Ireland, where on Christmas morning people across the country take a reinvigorating dip in the ocean. "It's a very common occurrence," she said, "although in Ireland it takes about three hours for everybody to get there and get in and get out."

When Clarke told islander Adrienne McCalley of the tradition "she thought it would be a great idea to help the Atheneum." Before long, Clarke was working with her sister-in-law Bess Clarke, the Atheneum's director of development, a committee was formed and the Turkey Plunge was up and running.

"It's become such a family event," said Logan O'Connor, who, with both Clarkes has worked on the Turkey Plunge committee since its inception. "The momentum builds every year."

This year, for example, 100 people had signed up the week before Thanksgiving. Based on previous turnouts, that number will swell on Thanksgiving morning, as the courage mounts and last minute swimmers decide to take the plunge. With upwards of 150 participants last year, O'Connor believes this year's plunge will attract the greatest number of swimmers yet.

The moderate temperatures of late could also be a lure. Water temperatures hovered in the mid- 50s last week, still a chilly dip, according to O'Connor, who again plans to take the plunge as she and her fellow board members have done from the beginning. "Oh, you have to," Barbara Clarke said. "You can't talk everybody into it and not do it yourself."

The weather can be a bit unpredictable, however. While winter ocean temperatures here are similar to those in Ireland, Clarke said the first year was downright frigid. "There were scallopers in their trucks, looking out at the water. It was too cold to go scalloping."

Nearly 40 businesses are corporate sponsors for this year's plunge, with Cowboy's Meat Market and Deli, Naushop Real Estate and Builders and Great Point Properties the main sponsors this year.

Plunge cards can be picked up through today at Annye's Whole Foods, Cowboy's Meat Market, Even Keel Cafe, the Nantucket Atheneum, Nantucket Community Pool and Nantucket Looms.

Whether you have planned it for months, or find your resolve at the end, the plunge takes place tomorrow morning at 10 a.m.

"It's a real island spirit event," Clarke said. The success of the plunge is evident whenever she takes her two children to the Atheneum. "The programs have been wonderful over the last few years. You can really see the benefits."