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The Polar Bears Take a Road Trip |
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POLAR BEARS GO HOLLYWOOD By Laddie Chapman The Jacksonport Polar Bear Club is usually dormant from one New Years’ Day to the next, the one day a year when they go for an invigorating swim in Lake Michigan. But 45 Club members came out of hibernation on March 12, 2002 to provide an enthusiastic backdrop for the “Outdoor Frozen Premiere” of the new computer-animated movie Ice Age. Hollywood star John Leguizamo, who voices the character “Sid the Sloth,” was the guest of honor at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. Legazamo arrived via snowmobile for the last 75-foot leg of his journey to give photographers some photo opportunities. The Polar Bears arrived at the Premiere by Lamer luxury bus, courtesy of the 20th Century Fox studio, who paid all expenses for transportation, food and hospitality from Sturgeon Bay to the Minneapolis area. The bus even had video screens for each seat, and passengers were treated to recordings of past swims. Fox’s National Publicist Carol Cundiff, looking for ideas to promote the new movie, came upon the Polar Bears’ web site and thought the Club’s cold, outdoor philosophy would fit nicely with the new movie. The web site details the Club’s founding by J. R. Jarosh 17 years ago and boasts pictures from each of the years. Jarosh, 29, is a physical therapist for Scandia of Sister Bay, and also serves as a Supervisor on the Jacksonport Town Board. It was short notice to Jarosh and the mid-week, all-day plan made it somewhat difficult to round up Club members for the trip. But, using email and telephone, enough experienced Bears were found to fill a bus. Most were from the Door County area. In exchange for a movie admission, the Club’s members provided cheering and even led a small parade down the aisles with their banner. Members were stripped down to their usual New Years’ Day attire that varied from bikinis to a superman costume. Publicity videos of the Premiere participants were recorded by Fox and have been seen by 20 million nationwide viewers so far. The trip wasn’t without surprises. Arriving at the outdoor theater, the Polar Bears discovered they would be expected to watch at least part of the movie seated on large ice blocks in the “Frozen Section.” Even Polar Bears have their limits, so some impromptu cardboard cutting helped solve the cold butt problem. And the seats became lower to the ground as the evening progressed. The movie audience numbered about 700 mostly warmer people. After John Leguizamo’s entrance and introduction to the crowd, the movie began and he sat down to watch it briefly in the frozen Polar Bear section. No, Leguizamo didn’t strip to his swimming suit! Following the movie and some warming in the nearby tent, the Polar Bears headed home, arriving in Sturgeon Bay in the wee hours of the morning.
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This is page One of Three.
More road trip pictures are on Page Two
and Page Three.
DoorCam: Daily Lake Michigan pictures!
