Today, some 50 years after the first Puddle Jump, three of the event’s founders — Chris Callahan ’78, Scott Copeland ’78, and Lars Llorente ’78 — returned to campus to kick off this year’s edition.

They walked onto the Puddle and held hands at the edge of the hole in the ice on Lake Andrews. Callahan gave a kind of blessing, a sweet summing up of the enduring power of �ֲ���ý friendship: “Best buds for 50 years.” And in they went.

Selected from Mirror yearbooks, The �ֲ���ý Student, and, more recently, from the photography of �ֲ���ý Communications and Marketing, here’s an incomplete history of the event that began when four first-year students, on the night of St. Patrick’s Day in 1975, performed an act of simple silliness, later famously described as “exuberance at the end of a hard winter.”

St. Patrick’s Day, 1975

Approximate temperature: 28 degrees

The first Puddle Jump took place on the evening of St. Patrick’s Day, Monday, March, 17, 1975. While the Student reported that the weather was “extremely harsh,” the daytime temperature hit a mild 44 degrees, perhaps giving a bit of spring fever to the four founders, Christopher Callahan ’78, Scott Copeland ’78, Lars Llorente ’78, and Mark Stevens ’77. 

It was all about “exuberance at the end of a hard winter,” according to Callahan.

St. Patrick’s Day, 1977

Approximate temperature: 26 degrees

St. Patrick’s Day, 1978

Approximate temperature: 28 degrees 

St. Patrick’s Day, 1980

Approximate temperature: 40 degrees 

This photograph likely shows an emergent tradition of the Puddle Jump in the 1980s. Participants would gather in the basement of Smith South to hear a “Dip Master” — perhaps seen here — read from the Dip Book (which has been lost to history), which apparently had a letter from founder Scott Copeland as well as the names of Dip Masters past. 

St. Patrick’s Day, 1982

Approximate temperature: 28 degrees 

The front page of The �ֲ���ý Student of March 19, 1982, published two days after the Puddle Jump, curiously juxtaposed a story and photo of Elie Wiesel, who spoke in the Chapel the previous Monday evening, and two photos of the Puddle Jump.

St. Patrick’s Day, 1984

Approximate temperature: 30 degrees

St. Patrick’s Day, 1987

Approximate temperature: 25 degrees 

By the 1980s, the jump has settled into a familiar format for the era. Two students, positioned on either side of the small hole, literally dunk students into the puddle. That is, no jumping, just dipping. And, by the 1980s, the event was known as the “puddle jump.”

St. Patrick’s Day, 1993

Approximate temperature: 30 degrees with snow

By 1993, the tradition is now called an “obligatory rite of passage for every true �ֲ���ý student” in the caption of this photo taken by Alexis Gentile Comrack ’93.

St. Patrick’s Day, 1994

Approximate temperature: 24 degrees 

On March 18, 1994, The �ֲ���ý Student cleverly juxtaposed photographs of two �ֲ���ý traditions, “one academic and the other extracurricular; both are time honored.” 

On the left was Toby White ’94 submitting his 101-page interdisciplinary honors thesis, Quantum Conversations: Gender, Metaphor, and Privilege in Theoretical Physics, to Joyce Caron just before the 3 p.m. deadline on March 16.

The photo at right showed a student getting dunked into Lake Andrews during the Puddle Jump the next day.

Jan. 15, 2001

Approximate temperature: 14 degrees 

By the early 2000s, the Puddle Jump was a dual threat, offered on St. Patrick’s Day as well as during Winter Carnival.

The �ֲ���ý Student of Jan. 23, 2001, reported that “several hardy souls braved the icy waters of Lake Andrews…as a tradition of questionable sanity, the ‘puddle jump,’ was revived on opening night of Winter Carnival.”

St. Patrick’s Day 2001

Approximate temperature: 28 degrees 

A new trend in the new decade, one that would persist into the early 2010: naked jumpers.

Jan. 26, 2002

Approximate temperature: 37 degrees 

In 2002, The �ֲ���ý Student downvoted the January / Outing Club version of the jump.

Tim Ayers ’04 gave a jump-by-jump report of the January jump in The �ֲ���ý Student. “The pattern that jumpers followed was pretty much the same every time,” he wrote. “First, the jumper would strip to either a bathing suit, underwear, or in some cases, just a birthday suit. They would then proceed to hop up and down and swear rather loudly as they made their way across the snow toward the hole in the ice.

“The brave person would then take a deep breath and leap. It is expected that the jumper will fully submerge their head before pulling themselves out using the rope dipped into the water.

“One jumper, much to her dismay, fell back into the water three more times before finally climbing out. The thoroughly chilled �ֲ���ýie then ran to the bonfire where he or she would stand shivering, but not without a huge grin.”

Jan. 18, 2003

Approximate temperature: 12 degrees

Nearly two decades old, the Puddle Jump began to warrant historical treatment in The �ֲ���ý Student. A math-challenged story noted that the event began in the “late 1970s” and is now “at an estimated age of 35 years.”

In the story about that year’s event, Hannah Johnson-Breimeier ’06 gave an apt answer to why students do the Puddle Jump. “There’s a feeling of accomplishment,” she said.

March 5, 2004

Approximate temperature: 35 degrees 

With a high of just 9 degrees on Jan. 25, 2004, the Puddle Jump was postponed. Then it was postponed again when the Outing Club could not secure a permit for the bonfire (too windy).

The event finally went off in March, but was sparsely attended. The Student sounded a death knell. “The Puddle Jump used to be an anticipated event, where upwards of 100 people took a dip in the frozen puddle, with hundreds of others cheering.”

But in fact, the Puddle Jump was just enjoying a rebirth. This photo of the 2005 event, the first digital coverage of the event by �ֲ���ý Communications and Marketing, appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education that year.

Jan. 21, 2006

Approximate temperature: 40 degrees 

The unseasonably warm 52-degree Puddle Jump Day on Jan. 21, 2006, made for record numbers at the Puddle Jump and one unexpected result. “Participation was high!” reported The �ֲ���ý Student. “Unfortunately, so was male nudity.”

Jan. 26, 2007

Approximate temperature: 40 degrees

While axes and ice augers were used for a number of years to create the hole, the Outing Club would ultimately turn to more powerful tools, like chain saws.

Jan. 18, 2008

Approximate temperature: 40 degrees

For many years, students would gather around the hole during the Puddle Jump, and jumping into the water was a pell-mell affair. Today, students gather along the walkway, and walk out in groups.

Jan. 23, 2009

Approximate temperature: 18 degrees

Jan. 22, 2010

BOC stalwart Dots Loopesko ’10 (center) gets a hand from fellow BOCer Jeremy Porter ’11 (left) as the Outing Club preps the jumping hole in 2010.

Approximate temperature: 31 degrees

Jan. 20, 2011

Approximate temperature: 26 degrees

The annual tradition earned some media attention off campus with a video of the Jan. 20, 2011, Puddle Jump featured in the Lewiston Sun Journal, and an unexpected shout out from the Vietnam news portal Zing. 

Jan. 17, 2012

Approximate temperature: 33 degrees

By the 2010, costumes were a solid part of Puddle Jump tradition, with students wearing everything from duck and mermaid costumes to the flags of their country of origin as capes.

Jan. 18, 2013

Approximate temperature: 15 degrees (Brrrrr!)

Jan. 17, 2014

Approximate temperature: 40 degrees 

Now retired, Jim Guzelian, the college’s enivornmental health and safety specialist — better known as “Safety Jim” — was a mainstay at the Puddle Jump, including helping students secure wood for the all-important bonfire.

Jan. 23, 2015

Approximate temperature: 29 degrees

Feb. 12, 2016

Approximate temperature: 17 degrees

The 2016 edition of the Puddle Jump featured some pond skimming.

Jan. 20, 2017

Approximate temperature: 36 degrees 

Jan. 26, 2018

Approximate temperature: 26 degrees 

Feb. 9, 2019

Approximate temperature: 32 degrees

From left, founders and 1978 classmates Scott Copeland , Chris Callahan, and Lars Llorente returned for the 2019 jump.

Jan. 31, 2020

Approximate temperature: 38 degrees 

January 2021

Not held due to COVID.

Feb. 11, 2022

Approximate temperature: 43 degrees 

Some facts from 2022:

• Hole dimension: 13 feet by 13 feet
• Cutting tool: 20-inch Makita chainsaw, handled by Jack Fruechte ’22 of Minneapolis
• Temperature: 43 degrees
• Wind direction and speed: South at 15mph
• Ice thickness: 6 inches, topped by another 6 inches of crusty snow

Feb. 10, 2023

Approximate temperature: 52 degrees

Feb. 9, 2024

Approximate temperature: 38 degrees

Feb. 7, 2025

Approximate temperature: 29 degrees

Llorente, Callahan, and Copeland respond to the cheers of current �ֲ���ý students, just before kicking off the 2025 edition of the long-running Puddle Jump today, Feb. 7. Well done!

Within vaunted traditions there are always new wrinkles. Take the �ֲ���ý tradition of the Maine governor lighting a torch to kick off Winter Carnival.

This year, Maine Gov. Janet Mills didn’t do the honors — that was handled by U.S. Rep. Jared Golden ’11 (D-Maine), wielding a butane grill lighter as Charlie Gainey ’24 of Portola Valley, Calif., brandished the torch, which seemed a little less lavish this year, more of a fuel-soaked rag wrapped around an ax handle. But it got the job done.

With that, Golden became the third �ֲ���ý graduate to light the torch since then-Maine Gov. Edmund Muskie ‘36 lit the first Winter Carnival torch in 1958.

The second alum was State Sen. Nate Libby ’07, D-Lewiston, who handled the duties in January 2020 and presented a Legislative Sentiment to BOC members in recognition of the the club’s centennial that year.

And another tradition shift: The torch lighting, on Friday Feb. 11, wasn’t a Winter Carnival kick-off event this year but more of a closing ceremony after a week of events. 

From there, �ֲ���ý runners delivered the flame, Olympics relay style, about 29 miles from Augusta back to the Puddle to light the bonfire next to Page Hall, officially beginning Puddle Jump. 

As the runners were loping along state roads heading south, back on campus Jack Fruechte ’22 of Minneapolis, Minn., and several first-year students were heading out onto the frozen but sun-splashed Lake Andrews to cut the hole for the Puddle Jump. 

Fruechte cut the hole in his first year and as a sophomore (last year’s was canceled due to COVID-19). But this year — another wrinkle in the tradition — big hand saws were traded in for a chainsaw.

After a few technical difficulties (a snagged pullcord) the 20-inch Stihl was sliding through all six inches of ice like it was six inches of butter. The eventual hole was 13 feet by 13 feet.

“We went out to look at the ice the day before, and we had to get a longer chainsaw, because it was thicker than we were expecting,” says Fruechte. In 2020, they almost canceled the Puddle Jump due to the thinness of the ice.

As they pulled the ice blocks from the water with tongs and used them to line a makeshift path to the hole, he jokingly told his helpers that they “didn’t just volunteer for this year; they volunteered for the next three years.”

By the jump’s 3 p.m. start, midday sunshine had given way to a few clouds. It was mild (42 degrees) albeit breezy, with winds from the south at 10 to 15 mph. Several hundred �ֲ���ý students willingly (and enthusiastically) plunged themselves into the icy depths (well, about 5 feet) of Lake Andrews for the annual event

There was no Puddle Jump in 2021, due to the pandemic — the first jump-less year since its founding in 1975 — but students didn’t miss a beat, turning out in their Puddle-wear costumes, swim suits, and even fancy dress for that 10-second dip before heading to the bonfire.

Meanwhile, Fruechte and his comrades staffed the hole, helping to pull jumpers out. He says it can be hard to recruit volunteers to help cut the hole and then pull shivering students from the water post-leap, but the effort doesn’t go unnoticed by other students: “I went in to lunch at Commons after cutting the hole, and all my friends were there at a table, and they gave me a standing ovation.”

“I enjoy helping carry on the tradition,” says Fruechte— who has never partaken of the tradition himself, choosing to wield the chainsaw rather than take the plunge. “The Puddle’s pretty gross. I just never really had the desire to.”

Earlier today, a 20th-century �ֲ���ý Outing Club tradition was reignited when newly elected Maine Gov. Janet Mills lit a ceremonial Winter Carnival torch outside the Maine State House in Augusta.

The �ֲ���ý torch-lighting tradition was begun in 1958 when then-Maine Gov. Ed Muskie ’36 lit a torch to kick off that year’s Olympic-themed Winter Carnival.

Today at 9 a.m., taking a few lighthearted minutes from her big duties (such as delivering her first state budget), Mills met eight �ֲ���ý students, including torchbearer Gordon Platt ’19, BOC vice president from Groton, Mass.

The �ֲ���ý relay runners, members of the �ֲ���ý Outing Club and �ֲ���ý Running Club, run past the State House on their way from Augusta to �ֲ���ý on Feb. 8. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

With Gordon Platt '19 carrying the lit torch, the first group of �ֲ���ý relay runners cavort their way from the State House. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

After lighting the Winter Carnival torch, Maine Gov. Janet Mills cheers as �ֲ���ý Outing Club vice president Gordon Platt '19 of Groton, Mass., holds the torch. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

After lighting Winter Carnival torch at the State House on Feb. 8, 2019, Maine Gov. Janet Mills poses with �ֲ���ý students. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

After Mills lit the torch, the �ֲ���ý students set out on foot for campus, 30.1 miles away. A total of some 20 students, running in four-person relay groups of about three miles, were scheduled to deliver the lit torch to campus by 3 p.m. to kick off the annual Puddle Jump.

This year’s runners are members of the �ֲ���ý Outing Club and the �ֲ���ý Running Club.

The college’s Winter Carnival has been a �ֲ���ý Outing Club tradition since the club’s formation in 1920. Next year marks the club’s centennial.

Maine Gov. Janet Mills lights the Winter Carnival torch, held by �ֲ���ý Outing Club vice president Gordon Platt ’19.

History of the Torch Lighting

From the 1950s to the 1990s, the longstanding (and bipartisan) torch-lighting tradition brought Maine governors to the steps of the State House including these state leaders:

Maine Gov. Edmund Muskie '36 lights the inaugural Winter Carnival torch in 1958.

First lady Polly Curtis, wife of Maine Gov. Ken Curtis, lights the Winter Carnival torch in 1968.

Maine Gov. John McKernan lights the Winter Carnival torch in 1989.

Maine Gov. John McKernan lights the Winter Carnival torch in 1987.

Maine Gov. James Longley lights the Winter Carnival torch in 1978.