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Friday, February 27. 2009
1st Annual Rabbie Burns Polar Dip Grrrreat Success!
On Saturday, January 23rd, Adventure Canada hosted our 1st Annual Rabbie Burns Polar Dip in our hometown of Port Credit.About 90 bystanders and 12 very brave swimmers attended the event at the Lake
Promenade Park Saturday afternoon. Canadian literary icons Margaret
Atwood and Graeme Gibson joined a crowd of local musicians, academics
and writers who gathered to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the
famed Scottish poet's birthday.
Adventure Canada, raised about
$500 for local charity EcoSource and its innovative environmental
education programs for youth, adults and families. For more information
on EcoSource please click here.
Itwasn't only Rabbie Burns' birthday the day of the plunge - but also AC
resource staff and CBC host Shelagh Rogers, who also celebrated by
going for a dip in Lake Ontario!
Participants and bystanders
were then treated to a warm-up party at The Harp Restaurant & Pub,
where many others joined in remembering the works of Burns.
As she enjoyed warm soup and haggis, Atwood said the event certainly captured the spirit of the famed Scottish poet.
"All
over the world this poet's birthday is being celebrated and why is
that? Because he spoke to everybody and he showed great determination
in his life and his poems have been popular with all sorts of people
ever since," she said.
Author Ken McGoogan said he couldn't agree more.
"Burns
himself was somewhat of a mad man," said McGoogan, who paid tribute by
writing a poem for the occasion. "It's quite sufficient to justify any
kind of wild and crazy behaviour."
The bag pipes were played by
bag piper Will Barton, and musicians Tom Barlow, Tom Kovacs and Tyler
Yarema provided live musical entertainment for the crowd.
Margaret Atwood and Graeme Gibson will be special guests representing Birdlife International on "Scotland Slowly" - An exploration of Scotland's western and northern islands aboard MV Andrea - May 23 - June 2, 2009.
Want to do your own Polar Bear Swim? Join us this summer in the arctic and take the plunge!
Click here for more information on our Heart of the Arctic Expedition.
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