The air temperature was 24 degrees but who knows how cold the frigid waters of Lake Michigan were as Bailey Barch of Normal dived in along with hundreds of others at the SUPER Plunge to benefit Special Olympics Illinois at Evanston’s Clark Street Beach on Feb. 17. (Karie Angell Luc / for Chronicle Media)

The Polar Plunge, is a statewide fundraising opportunity to support Special Olympics Illinois athletes.

Locally, residents will be taking the Plunge into the waters of Miller Park Lake in Bloomington.

Participants must raise $100 in donations from friends, family and co-workers in exchange for jumping into the icy waters.

The plunge will take place Saturday, Feb. 24 at Miller Park located at 1020 S. Morris Ave., Bloomington.

There will be two shifts of plungers — the first registration takes place at 9 a.m. with the plunge at 10:30 a.m. and registration for the second plunge begins at 10:30 a.m. with the plunge at noon.

All plungers will be assigned a time and will be informed when they will be going into the water.

Pre-Registration fundraiser event

Save time and bypass registration on the day of the Plunge by pre-registering. The final chance to pre-register will be on Wednesday Feb. 21 at Buffalo Wild Wings, 3220 E. Empire St., Bloomington, from 4-7 p.m.

Anyone who would like to grab some wings or dinner on this night can go to https://soill.donordrive.com to print out and present these flyers to your server and 15 percent of your bill will go back to Special Olympics Illinois.

The tickets need to be printed. They do not need to be printed in color. Digital copies will not be accepted.

Several hundred people have so far signed up to dive into Miller Park Lake for the Polar Plunge on Saturday. Feb. 24. (Photo courtesy of Special Olympics Illinois

One check per ticket. For example, if a group of four pays on one check, they only need to have one ticket. If they pay on two checks, they need to have two tickets.

The flyers can be presented by anyone, not just those signed up for The Polar Plunge.  So invite your friends and family to the event and support Special Olympics Illinois athletes.

If you cannot make either pre-registration, you may register on the Feb. 24 at the Miller Park Lake Pavilion.

Shuttles on the Plunge date

The Polar Plunge will take place in two time shifts, 10:30 a.m. and noon. Plunge teams with over 20 members will plunge at 10:30 a.m. and register at 9:30 a.m. All other groups and individuals will register at 10:30 a.m. and plunge at noon.

Plungers can park at Trinity Lutheran Church at 801 S. Madison St., in Bloomington. Buses will take plungers and spectators to the Miller Park Lake Pavilion and drop off on South Morris Avenue.

The shuttles will pick up every 15 minutes (9:15 a.m., 9:30 a.m. and 9:45 a.m. etc.) from Trinity Lutheran. They will run continuous routes picking up and dropping off. The final round of shuttles will leave Trinity Lutheran at noon and will then only be running return routes from Miller Park until 2 p.m.

Plunger incentive prizes

Normal Police Department’s representatives for the Illinois Torch Run Kickoff for Illinois Special Olympics are (from left) Det. Nikki Bruno, Officer Greg Leipold, Athlete Ambassador Michael Williams, Jackie Thomas, Officer Todd Drought. (Photo courtesy of Normal Police Department)

Plungers will receive incentive prizes based on the amount of money they raise. By raising the minimum of $100, participants receive an official Plunge hooded sweatshirt on a first come, first serve basis the day of the plunge.

All individuals who do not receive a sweatshirt the day of the event will have one mailed to them in April. Other prizes are awarded at the $250, $500 and $1,000 levels and will be mailed to participants in April.

For additional information on the event, visit our main plunge site at www.plungeillinois.com.

—–  Still time to sign up for Special Olympics Polar Plunge in Bloomington —-