MILWAUKEE - They call it the Polar Plunge along Milwaukee's Lakefront, but the conditions seemed pretty mild for the annual New Year's day dip in the lake.

Dozens of hardy souls, splashed around to get 2017 off to an icy start. Folks dressed in costumes. We spotted Darth Vader, someone in a packer helmet, and another in a banana suit.

The man with the horn talked about his unofficial role as polar plunge starter. 

"It seems like a lot of fun for the money, you know since it's kinda free.  And what other festival does Milwaukee have, well there's Summerfest, so this is like Winterfest, you know?" Dennis Wurch, a polar plunger said. 

We've seen polar plunges in previous years where the participants had to dodge chunks of ice, nothing like that today.