(1/1/2025 WSB photo by Dave Gershgorn)

As noted in our Event Calendar and Holiday Guide, we haven’t been sure about the status of the Alki Beach New Year’s Day Polar Bear Swim because we hadn’t heard from or been able to reach longtime organizer Mark Ufkes. This morning, his announcement arrived, with an explanation of why it’s later than usual:

January 1, 2026
New Year’s Day Alki Beach Polar Bear Swim

We go into the water at 10:00 am sharp!

(After the countdown from 10, 9, 8 . .)

Bring good water shoes, warm clothes to change into, a towel and your hopes and dreams for 2026. Holding hands with your neighbors as you go in, always makes it easier!!

New Request:

Please bring a donation for our local food banks. Drop them in the Costco black tubs that will be placed all along the sidewalk.

Message of thanks to the good people of West Seattle:

My amazing, beautiful wife Lois Schipper and I would like to thank you all, from the bottom of our hearts, for always being so kind to us during our three decades here. And for being such great neighbors too. Between our many friends, family, and so many great public school teachers, you all have helped us nurture our two boys to adulthood and made our lives so much fuller.

For Lois and me, 2025 has been especially difficult. Lois, my executive-functioning spouse, has been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. We are crushed. Also, we both spent many years working with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), providing humanitarian assistance in Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and the former Soviet Union before we moved to West Seattle, then White Center. Lois is a Public Health Nurse and expert on at-risk moms and babies, and I worked on food security and democratic pluralism efforts.

For those who might have missed, USAID was the federal entity that Elon Musk “fed to the woodchipper” earlier this year. The entire USAID world-wide staff of over 10,000 good Americans all lost their jobs in one day. Like us, these professionals dedicated their lives to helping the most vulnerable around the world on behalf of the American people.

So, for Lois and me, we will be holding hands, and as we go running into Puget Sound, we will be washing away the stain of our spiritually-crippled President and his spineless Republican party.

And what we want from the New Year is to pack our remaining healthy time together with every service adventure we can fit in, and every day, be thankful that we are blessed to live in this generous, wonderful community with all of you good people.

Last year, over 1,500 went into the water. So come on down and join us on Thursday, January 1. Bring your food bank donation and get there a little early, as we go into the water at 10:00 am sharp after the countdown. And remember, don’t waste a day. Our lives are shorter than we think.

Be strong in 2026.

Sincerely,
Mark L. Ufkes and Lois A. Schipper