DERBY — The Seventh Annual Memphremagog Winter Swim Festival will be going virtual this year.
During the last week of February, winter swimmers from Alaska to Ireland will be joining in.
Organizers say in total around 120 winter swimmers will be participating.
“Since our first winter swim festival in 2015, clans of cold water swimmers have been growing around the country,” Phil White, Director, of Kingdom Games said.
White says many of these cold-water swimmers have been swimming in socially distanced “pods” regularly through the fall and winter as the sport of Winter Swimming has spread across the country and blossomed.
Each location will also be holding a ribbon ceremony to honor and remember family and friends who have battled cancer or another life-threatening disease.
This year the organization has raised over $2,000 for the Halo Foundation, which provides financial support to those in our community who are battling cancer and their families.
“We will dearly miss the congregation of winter swimmers at the EastSide Restaurant in downtown Newport this year,” White said. “But we are thrilled to see the many clans of winter swimmers growing strong and swimming regularly throughout the Fall and Winter all over North America.”
