SEASIDE HEIGHTS —When 6,000 people show up in brutally cold weather and willingly take a plunge in heart-stoppingly cold water, you know you've got something special.
For the organizers of the 22d annual polar bear plunge benefiting Special Olympics New Jersey, that was the atmosphere Saturday afternoon when thousands of brave souls turned out in Seaside Heights for one of its biggest fundraisers.
It wasn't the frigid weather of earlier in the week, when temperatures dropped into the teens and winds made the air feel below zero. But with the air temperature at 30 degrees - and the ocean barely warmer at 34 degrees - it was still heartwarming to know so many people helped the non-profit break records, said Heather Andersen, spokeswoman for Special Olympics New Jersey.
"Despite the weather, they all came out," she said. "It was a good day."
Good because the event broke its 2012 record of 5,900 participants by about 1,000, Andersen said. And good because those plungers raised more than $1.6 million to help fund athletic events for children and adults with intellectual disabilities.
Snow from previous storms had been plowed off the boardwalk and the sand, but still a shelf of ice at the water's edge made it difficult for anyone in bare feet. About an hour after the plunge, a new round of snow started falling.
Brian Mahoney of Park-Ridge said he started doing the plunge since nearly its beginning, when his son Brian would stand on the beach and watch. He estimated he and his team raised more than $100,000 for Special Olympics New Jersey over the years. Now his son has his own team and Mahoney lets them do their own thing while he watches - supposedly.
"I always say I'm not going in and then I always end up doing it," Mahoney said.
Patricia McLarnon of Dumont wasn't taking the plunge but she helped her brother Derek McLarnon organize a team of six other family members. Their goal is to grow the size of the team over the years.
"We have our health and we can do these things so we're here to help people be able to do sports," Patricia McLarnon said.
Frank Powers of Morrisville, Pa., and his cousin Kathleen Graul of Philadelphia stumbled onto the event last year while visiting Seaside, the place where they vacationed as kids.
"We said, 'This is a really nice thing they do for charity. We'll do it next year,'" Powers said. So they showed up on Saturday bedecked Phillies baseball jerseys and wearing Phillie Phanatic fuzzy hats before taking their dunk.
Brian Jinier of Toms River dressed as the superherom The Flash. He was supposed to be part of a team of other superheroes but when he couldn't find his friends a half hour before the 1 p.m. start, he was pretty sure they chickened out.
That didn't deter him.
"I love donating and doing things for a good cause," he said.
This was the sixth year Michelle Cannata of Wall Township took the plunge with her mother, Suzanne Cannata, who started the tradition when she decided to do something crazy for her 50th birthday.
Under the banner of Team 50 Rocks, they assembled a group of 10 that's now grown to 27. Collectively they raised more than $6,000 this year, Michelle Cannata said.
They said they weren't going to let the frigid weather keep them from backing out and breaking their streak.
"I'm going to do this for the rest of my life til the day I die," Michelle Cannata said. "Hopefully it's not today."
MaryAnn Spoto may be reached at mspoto@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @MaryAnnSpoto. Find NJ.com on Facebook.