Getting A Leg Up On The New Year Zaniness Strikes Daytime Too As Light Dawns On ‘95, Celebrants Turn To Fun Run, Lake Plunge, Kayaking And Kite Flying

Not everyone in the Inland Northwest celebrated chilly New Year’s Day sitting in front of a warm television watching football.

Some intrepid residents ventured into the 20-degree temperatures Sunday to ring in 1995 their own way.

Members of the Northwest Whitewater Association floated a five-mile stretch of the frigid Spokane River, including the roughand-tumble Bowl and Pitcher, in kayaks and other craft.

And the Lilac City Windchasers kite club filled the frosty air over Franklin Park with their multicolored toys, and their breath.

River runner Bob Rockser explained why he and a dozen friends held the second annual Fool’s Float: “It beats staying home.”

Rockser and his mates showed up at the city sewage treatment plant on the river at noon to brave the rapids.

Champagne and beer were flowing as the group prepared to take to the water.

“You’ve got to be somewhat foolish to get out here,” Rockser said. “But it is fun.”

Floater Paul Delaney said the weather doesn’t matter, as long as he stays dry.

“We’re kind of like the polar bear guys, except our ambition is certainly not to get wet,” said Delaney, referring to a group of people in Coeur d’Alene who traditionally take a swim in the lake on New Year’s Day.

That group, by the way, was at it again. Nearly 125 people jumped in this year for the Polar Bear Plunge.

“We never quit screaming while we’re in the water,” said Paul Ferguson, minutes before taking the plunge. Hundreds of spectators, many toting cameras and camcorders, crowded Sanders Beach at Coeur d’Alene.

“If you can do this, you can do anything,” said four-year veteran plunger Mike Norman of Coeur d’Alene. “Anything that doesn’t require brains.”

Norman’s advice: “Get in and out within nine seconds.”

Some folks wanted a longer workout Sunday. More than 500 people rose early to run or walk five miles in the New Year’s Day “Hangover Handicap” in Coeur d’Alene.

Back at Franklin Park, about 10 kite-fliers showed up to put on a show for passersby.

Craig Lester put his pink-andblack stunt kite through a battery of maneuvers, including loop-theloops, in the light wind.

“I don’t care if it’s cold,” Lester said. “I just need some wind.”

Lester’s father, Bill, drew a small crowd with his kite, which was actually about 350 small kites with a single thick cord running through all of them.

“It’s called a train kite,” said Craig Lester, who added people usually flock to see it. “Of course, we’re the only idiots that’ll come out on a day like today.”