Ring in the New Year with splash during the 17th annual Polar Bear Plunge, hosted by The Edmonds Uplift Society at 1 p.m. Monday, Jan. 1. The event will be at Brackett’s Landing beach at the foot of Main Street  —  just north of the Edmonds-Kingston ferry terminal — and all are invited to participate.

The event traditionally draws several hundred people for a cold-water dip on New Year’s Day.

Daphnes bar owner and event founder Brian Taylor said that a pre-function Uplift Society membership meeting will occur at noon at Daphnes, located at 415 1/2 Main St.

The Edmonds Polar Bear Plunge got its start in 2008. Taylor had participated in similar events elsewhere over the years, and one evening over a few drinks with friends it was suggested that the time was ripe to institute a polar bear plunge in Edmonds. Inspired by a 1932 photograph from the Edmonds Historical Museum archives showing the Edmonds Uplift Society, a prohibition-era drinking club, Taylor and others decided to revive the Uplift Society as the event sponsor. In recognition, the museum donated a print of the original Uplift Society members hoisting a few cold Rainiers, and that image continues to occupy a place of honor in Daphnes Bar.