In what has become a New Year’s Day tradition, a throng of participants more than 300 strong rushes toward the ocean at Old Orchard Beach in the Lobster Dip fundraiser Thursday for Special Olympics Maine. Organizers said the sunny, snowless conditions helped boost the turnout.
Members of the Portland Rugby Club – from left, Eric Petersen, Jeff Dalzell and Adam Croteau – race out of the Atlantic at Old Orchard Beach. The club was instrumental in establishing the Lobster Dip fundraiser 27 years ago at East End Beach in Portland.
Emerging from the chilly waters, Kathleen Beecher, like many of her fellow lobster dippers, wears an appropriate sea-themed costume complete with a hat of claws.
Brenda Blackman, of Boothbay Harbor, said she and her husband, Leon, raised $1,555 for Special Olympics in the annual Lobster Dip fundraiser on New Year’s Day.
Kelly MacVane, left, joins Rocky Frenzilli for the annual Lobster Dip. MacVane wore a police vest to honor her father, the late Peter MacVane, a South Portland police officer who, along with Frenzilli, helped start the Lobster Dip and was an enthusiastic supporter of Special Olympics Maine.
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