Pesky COVID-19 didn’t keep hundreds of locals and visitors from taking a dip into 60-degree water Jan. 1 at the annual Tybee Island Polar Bear Plunge benefitting the Tybee Post Theater.
Getting some front-row parking at the Tybee Pier, I speed-walk past a rusty automotive contraption and know instantly that Hubert Keller is around. If you immediately thought of Keller’s Flea Market, this is the guy who created it 34 years ago and sold it three years ago. He is more than eager to tell me about his upcoming auction, the “ratrod” he is driving, and his plans to move that “big ole cow from Highway 17 to join the 20-foot black and white mailbox on Quacco Road.”
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First up is the Feb. 22 auction of everything from hot rods, sugar cane grinders and massive Fairbanks and Morris engine that ran cotton gins to steam engines and an old unstyled John Deere tractor. “My wife Cheri and I will be selling off all the antiques we collected during our three decades,” shares the longtime farmer.
The car lover in me can appreciate the fact that a ’49 Ford pickup is welded to the front end of a ’70 model Camaro frame, the steering wheel is made from steel from the Twin Towers and that water squirts out of the Genie pot welded to the car/truck. Shaking my head when I see fire shooting out of the exhaust, I leave this wicked cool character with the promise to check out his six other mix-matched eccentric ratrods at their auction.
At the pier entrance I hear a distinctive voice saying, “I love you!” Following her voice, I find Renee LaSalle giving Tybee Post Theater Executive Director Evan Goetz a hug, buying a dark blue Polar Bear Plunge T-shirt, then handing me one!
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Rushing down the steps to the beach, I hit warp speed to catch best buddies Sandi Tribbett and Sheila Barry before they brave the Atlantic Ocean. Sporting matching red polar bear pajamas, the former polar bear plunge contest winners tell me that this is their 12th year participating in this Tybee Island tradition.
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Next up, Tybee Island resident Brent Patten tells me that he is going to be my next general contractor. With him is his close friend Matt Campbell, a railroad conductor who isn’t fazed when I tell him that I am slightly obsessed with trains and that I want to ride with him to do a video crossing the Ogeechee River.
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After posing Brent with Matt, Matt’s wife Chrissy and Ennis Hager, I mosey over to meet Calvary Day School’s Layla Wolfe, St. Andrews School’s Sage Cahan with Blessed Sacrament’s Madison Wagner. Standing behind them is Layla’s mom Tiffany, a realtor with McIntosh Realty Team and one of those naturally beautiful blondes who looks like she may model on the side.
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With her is financial consultant Melody Culver, web developer Lara Robertson and Sea Salt Ceramics potter Kelly Jones. The Tybee Island residents are connected by kids the same age and their “love of an island with a small town feel and amazing people that look for each other.”
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I may have had a mini posing session with the four friends before telling them to check the paper to see which fabulous photo made print before heading over to ask Sallie McClelland if I can get her group of seven to pose. While snapping pics of her with Greg and Dunice Welch, Gina Byrd, Patti Wilson, Janice Sauers and T.O. Wilson, I hear this booming voice yelling my name!
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Lord help, how can such a big voice come out of Dodie Gay’s little body?! Dodie’s friend of 50 years, Nancy Wallace, and 30-year longtime friend Linda Hilts and I giggle when we realize this wild child has somehow changed out of her swimsuit with her clothes on while we are talking to her.
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By now, I have watched everyone dressed in everything from Santa suits and lobster costumes take the annual plunge, so I head back to the pier to catch up with Evan. The Tybee Post Theater executive director tells me, “This is our biggest fundraiser of the year with all the proceeds going directly to our operational and programming budget.”
Loving the fact that some zany folks jumping in the ocean will help keep the doors of the Ft. Screven 1930s movie house open, I grab my blue Polar Bear Plunge shirt and promise to see Evan next year!
For more on Tybee Post Theater, go online totybeeposttheater.org.
Invite Bunny Ware to your gathering, gala or other social event. Contact her at 912-844-1122 or email at bunnyware@aol.com. See more columns by Bunny at SavannahNow.com/Lifestyle/.
