Outside, a square of open water sloshed against the ice, and they were about to jump into it.

At the annual Alpena Polar Plunge for Special Olympics, it was squeeze-together cozy at the restaurant and bar, where people in heavy coats and odd costumes enjoyed an adult beverage or plate of loaded nachos while they waited to watch brave-hearted plungers take a leap for a good cause.

The orange-vested, yellow-hatted, youthful-faced construction workers, it turned out, had many years of plunging experience under their industrial belts.

Clark Sexton, 13, has taken the leap several times before, along with other family members. His brother, Reed Sexton, 15, has missed only one year of polar plunging since he was in fourth grade.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Part of the Frozen Lumberjacks team head for the water Saturday as soon-to-jump plungers cringe.

“I thought it would be fun,” the older Sexton said, explaining why he got started. And, he said, it is fun. “Like, for a second. And then you’re really cold.”

Sarah Banks and her niece, Peyton, 11, from Hillman, jumped last year and decided to come back for more, this time dressed as scuba divers.

“As soon as we got out last year, she goes, ‘Aunt Sarah, we’re doing it again,'” Banks said. The team earned $315 for Special Olympics this year.

The amiable crowd soon shuffled outside onto the restaurant’s back porch, spilling down to the nearby ice of Long Lake. As onlookers watched from a taped-off circle around an impossible-to-miss hole in the ice, cheerful auctioneer John Fisher, owner of the SandBar, warmed the crowd with a delightfully inexpert auctioneering style that raised hundreds of dollars for Special Olympics.

Good-spirited bidding wars left winners going away happy with their purchases of Detroit Redwing tickets, deer blind equipment, pulled pork, an autographed basketball, and more.

News File Photo Plungers leap into Long Lake during the February 2020 Alpena Polar Plunge in this News archive photo.

Michigan State Police Trooper Ashley Simpson, who coordinates the event each year, bid-fought with Alpena County Sheriff Steve Kieliszewski over a humidifier, Fisher egging them on and making the crowd howl with laughter by depicting dry winter mornings, “when you wake up and blow blood out of your nose — you know that’s ’cause you need a humidifier!”

Kieliszewski served as honorary judge for the plunge, along with Alcona County Sheriff Scott Stephenson and MSP Detective Lt. Stuart Sharp, Huron Undercover Narcotics Team commander.

The plungers, fear on their faces as they stood on the platform facing the icy water, took dramatic leaps, arms flailing and legs curling up as if to stay out of the water as long as possible.

As they emerged, gasping, reaching, eyes wide and dripping, the plungers made for the nearby ladder as quickly as possible, climbing out with more haste than grace and racing for the nearest towel.

Around them, people sensibly dressed in coats and mittens enjoyed the show, laughed and clapped, and were glad there are people in the world willing to jump in a frozen lake to raise money, just because it’s a nice thing to do.

Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693, jriddle@thealpenanews.com or on Twitter @jriddleX.