CEDAR CITY – The city will host the first Cedar City Polar Plunge at noon on Saturday at the Leigh Hill Reservoir to raise money for the Iron County Special Olympics.

The first-ever Polar Plunge to benefit the Special Olympics took place in Virginia in 1993. Since that time, these plunges have become increasingly popular and many cities across the country have used this creative idea to raise money for their own Special Olympics programs.

“I’ve heard about them,” said Bob Tate, Leisure Services Director for Cedar City, “and I thought, well, why not try it up here.”

“We’ve been talking about it for several months and then in the last two months we’ve formed a committee and worked it out,” he added.

The main sponsors include the Cedar City Corporation, Utah Summer Games and Special Olympics of Utah, but there are several other sponsors who have joined in recent days to contribute to the initiative.

Participants pay $25 ($20 for students) to take part in the plunge. They can either sign up individually or they can pick up pledge sheets at the Cedar City Leisure Services office and gather $25 worth of pledges from others for them to go in. Candidates receive a hooded sweatshirt for participating.

“Basically, the reservoir is iced over, so we’ll have to break it out or cut it out with a saw and make enough room so that people can go in and all they do is run in, get totally immersed, and run out,” Tate said.

Having come up with the idea, Tate is expected to be the first to go in.

“Unfortunately,” Tate joked, “I’m going to go in. It may be the last thing I ever do in this life, but I’m going to go in.”

“Hopefully it’s going to be a nice day,” he added

This will be the first official event at the reservoir and everyone is welcome to come out and watch the experience.

Those interested are encouraged to sign up as soon as possible so organizers can have an idea of how many to expect. However, Leisure Services will take entrants up to the day of the event.

To register, go to the Leisure Services office at 286 N. Main St. For more information, call 865-9223.