Sherri McDonald and Reid Tippets dry off after their annual dip in the water at Auke Recreation Picnic Area on New Years Day, Jan. 1, 2021. Tippets said he’d done the dip for 11 years in a row. The Polar Bear Dip, held for 30 years at Auke Rec, was canceled this year over pandemic concerns, but some individual households opted to make the dip with their families, with masks, distancing, and care very much in evidence, while other pods had fires or walked dogs next to the cold ocean. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)

Sherri McDonald and Reid Tippets dry off after their annual dip in the water at Auke Recreation Picnic Area on New Years Day, Jan. 1, 2021. Tippets said he’d done the dip for eleven years in a row. The Polar Bear Dip, held for thirty years at Auke Rec, was canceled this year over pandemic concerns, but some individual households opted to make the dip with their families, with masks, distancing, and care very much in evidence, while other pods had fires or walked dogs next to the cold ocean. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)

A pod of people holds their own Polar Bear Dip at Auke Recreation Picnic Area on New Years Day, Jan. 1, 2021. The event, held for 30 years at Auke Rec, was canceled this year over pandemic concerns, but some individual households opted to make the dip with their families in a safe and distanced manner, while other pods had fires or walked dogs next to the cold ocean. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)

The Polar Bear Dip, held at Auke Recreation Picnic Area for 30 years, was canceled this year due to pandemic concerns, seeing the beach much emptier than it usually would be on New Years Day, Jan. 1, 2021. Some individual households opted to make the dip with their families in a safe and distanced manner, while other pods had fires or walked dogs next to the cold ocean. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)