The FNCA Polar Bear Club
The Polar Bear Club motto:
"Refreshing and Invigorating!"
 

Polar Bear Club statistics
Make your own FNCA Polar Bear plushie!

 

© Ian Woofenden 2010
  The FNCA Polar Bear Club sign on the side of
the Tool Shed was made by Louise Dole
"Mom Woof" Woofenden sometime in the
1990s. First, a little history: Most campers from the 1960s and 1970s remember a daily morning dip before breakfast. Some campers from the 1940s and 1950s have vivid memories of seeing Mrs. Foster (mother of Rev. Ted Foster) going down to the river for a brisk swim every morning at 6:00. Other old-timers remember campers swimming before breakfast as far back as the 1930s. However, the earliest known record of what became known as Polar Bear Swim is in 1928, the year we bought the first 12 acres of the Assembly grounds. Over the years, enough joined in that it has became a daily camp tradition that continues to this day.

Each morning at the rising bell, the FNCA Polar Bear Club gets together for a pre-breakfast dip in the refreshing and invigorating waters of the Saco River.

Everyone gathers at the top of the path to the river awaiting the arrival of our leader who greets the group with a hearty, "Good morning, Polar Bears!", to which the group responds with a mighty, "Good morning, Papa Bear!"

© Jesse White 2011Someone checks the Polar Bear thermometer by our official FNCA Polar Bear Club sign on the side of the Tool Shed next to where we gather, and then we head down the path to the river for our morning swim.

There are only two rules:
1. You have to go in willingly.
2. You have to swim at least one stroke.

© Trevor 2018
This painting by Nancy S. Hinson was  
 made in 2018. It hangs in a place of    
honor above the Polar Bear Club PBQ   
chalkboard in the Dining Hall.               The first one in is the "Icebreaker"! After that, one by one or in clusters, everyone enters the water in their own style. While most people swim across and wait on the other side for the rest of the group to join them, a few are either in too much of a rush or are not quite that intrepid and climb down the ladder, let go for the required one stroke, and quickly climb right back up out again! This maneuver is known as "a Beki", named for its originator Beki Greenwood.

As swimmers dive, jump, or climb into the water, Papa Bear stands on the bank and keeps a loud count of the number of Polar Bears who have gone in so far. Finally, Papa Bear himself dives in, swims across and, joining the others, announces the final number from the shallows on the other side.

Next we all sing a rousing rendition of the "Polar Bear Song" together before swimming back across, where we all grab our towels and head back up the path for a quick hot shower and/or a pause to warm up in front of the fireplace in the Main Building before getting dressed for breakfast.

© Emily Woofenden 2016
Our official FNCA Polar Bear Club
PBQ chalkboard, which hangs in
the Dining Hall, was made by
Ross Woofenden in 2016.The morning ritual officially ends during announcements at breakfast when Papa Bear announces the day's Polar Bear Quotient as he enters it on the official Polar Bear chalk board to either oohs and ahhs or moans and groans depending on if the PBQ is low (good) or high (bad).

What is the Polar Bear Quotient, you might ask? Well let me tell you: It was created by the Rev. Dr. George F. Dole in 1989 as a method (to quote the Polar Bear official records book) "to numerically evaluate the influence of temperature on the number of Polar Bears on a particular morning. ...You take the air temperature at the rising bell, subtract 32 to get the number of degrees above freezing, and then simply divide by the number of Polar Bears to get the day's PBQ."

The Polar Bear Club has been meeting every day during camp since at least the 1940s (probably earlier), but we've only been keeping records since that wonderful Wednesday of first week in 1989 when Rev. Dr. Dole had his PBQ brainstorm. The official Polar Bear Club records book, which is maintained by Papa Bear, contains yearly records from 1989-present of:
1. the daily temperature at the rising bell,
2. the number of Polar Bears each day,
3. the daily PBQ,
4. the signatures of the year's Polar Bears.
There are a few figures and some signatures missing from the four earliest years of record keeping; the rest of the years all have complete data and (presumably) signatures.

FNCA Polar Bear Club
Statistics

These statistics are all kept in the official Polar Bear Club book which was obtained in 1993 for that purpose and is maintained by Papa Bear.

1989
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
  2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2018 2029      

1992

1993

1994

1994 NOTE: Monday of second week, the Polar Bear Club set an all-time high of 25 Polar Bears and and all-time low PBQ of 0.88. (Both these records were broken in the successful record-breaking attempt Friday of first week in 1998.)

1995

1996

1997

1997 NOTES:
1. Special Guest Papa Bear middle Saturday:
Jon Kozar.
2. Special Guest Mama Bear middle Sunday:
Min-Heui Chen

1998

1998 NOTE: Friday of first week, the Polar Bear Club set an all-time high record of 41 Polar Bears and an all-time low PBQ of 0.87, just barely beating out Monday of second week in 1994's PBQ of 0.88!

"On the Way to the New Polar Bear Record!"
(How many are there so far?)

© Nancy F. Little 1998

1999

1999 NOTE: Special Guest Mama Bear on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday of second week:
Myrrh Woofenden

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2004 NOTE: A Polar Bear Club FIRST: On Thursday of first week, a moose crossed the river down at the bend while we were singing the Polar Bear song!

2005

2005 NOTE: A Polar Bear Club FIRST: On Wednesday of first week, we were joined by a snapping turtle that swam through the swimming area in the middle of Polar Bear Swim!

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

v2021
[vFNCA 2020 was virtual,
hence no Polar Bear Club]

 

2021

2022

Make Your Own
FNCA Polar Bear Plushie

© Nancy F. Little 1998The FNCA Polar Bear plushie was created by Louise Dole "Mom Woof" Woofenden in the 1990s. They were made of white fuzzy material, and were a big hit on the Sales Table that year, completely selling out within a few days. She made more the next year, and those very quickly all sold out, too.

© Louise Dole Woofenden 1998