The History of Vancouver’s Polar Bear Swim

Since 1920, every New Year’s Day Vancouverites have taken a cool dip in English Bay in one of the world’s most popular Polar Bear Swim events.

There were just a handful of people taking that chilly plunge back in 1920, but they were doing so at the behest (and in the company of) Peter Pantages. Pantages was the nephew of the vaudeville theatre circuit giant Andrew Pantages, and he had moved to Vancouver from Greece to make the city his home.

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